Impact of endomycorrhizal fungi and other bioinoculants on growth enhancement of Glycine max (L.) Merrill

Abstract

In the present investigation, the contributions of two indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus mosseae and Acaulospora laevis), along with Trichoderma viride and Bradyrhizobium japonicum on growth parameters of Soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill were investigated. The results obtained indicated the dependence of soybean on mycorrhizal symbiosis. The different growth parameters increased significantly after 120 days of inoculation in comparison to control. Among all the growth parameters studied, plant height (162±3.34), fresh shoot weight (31.26±1.45), dry shoot weight (3.52±0.05), fresh root weight (4.07±0.56), dry root weight (1.03±0.03), root length (49.0±4.47) and leaf area (32.58±1.70) were highest in the combination of G. mosseae + A. laevis + T. viride + B. japonicum but arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) spore number (95.2±3.19) and percent mycorrhizal root colonization (93.26±3.96) were maximum in single inoculation of G. mosseae. Second most effective results were observed in the plants treated with G. mosseae alone. Thus the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and other bioinoculants in rhizosphere of soybean had positive effect on the different growth parameters.