Abstract
The responses of Acacia nilotica L. var. cupriciformis to phosphorus application and inoculation with the indigenous consortium of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi were evaluated in a nursery experiment using soil from a marginal wasteland. A positive growth response to mycorrhizal inoculation was observed at an Olsen-P level of 20 ppm in the presence of the natural population of AM fungi. There was growth stimulation by either inoculation or additional P at the highest soil P of 40 ppm. Colonization was negatively correlated to soil P but P content of both shoot and root were positively correlated. Inoculation with the indigenous AM consortium significantly increased the uptake of P at all levels of applied P. Acacia is moderately dependent upon the AM symbiosis and exhibited a maximal mycorrhizal dependence (MD) of 18.25% at 20 ppm Olsen-P level under the conditions studied. A sharp and considerable reduction in MD and dry matter yield observed at 40 ppm P suggests that the external P requirement for maximal production of biomass was met at approximately 20 ppm Olsen-P.
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Accepted: 25 June 1996
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Sharma, M., Gaur, A., Bhatia, N. et al. Growth responses and dependence of Acacia nilotica var. cupriciformis on the indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal consortium of a marginal wasteland soil. Mycorrhiza 6, 441–446 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s005720050144
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s005720050144