Mycorrhizae induced Rice augmentation in arid soil of Bankura District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Mutualism between fungi and higher plant roots are popularly known as ‘mycorrhizae’ which literally means fungus-roots. More than 80% of land-plants are reported to be associated with VAM. In recent days VAM-fungi are being used as potent biofertilizers. The medicinal plant Aloe barbadensis Mill is cultivated throughout the world for its high commercial and medicinal value and among the monocots, it shows great VAM-colonization and higher spore density. Again, rice is the chief crop of West Bengal and the staple food of India and many other countries as well. But, because of poor quality of soil, many places around the world have low rice-yield and Bankura district of West Bengal, India is one of them. Considering this, our study was concentrated in assessment of VAM-colonization of Aloe barbadensis Mill. collected from two different districts of West Bengal and non-indigenous application of the same for rice-cultivation in arid soil of Bankura. Results showed that the soil of Purba Bardhaman had better VAM association than that of Bankura. Glomus mosseae was found to be the dominant colonizer in roots of Aloe barbadensis Mill. Mass propagation of the same was done, followed by its application in rice plants grown in the nutrient deficient soil of Bankura and growth augmentations of rice plants were recorded. It has been found that, Glomus mosseae, when applied as a non-indigenous VAM-fungus to the rhizosphere of Oryza sativa L., grown in the soil of Bankura, proved to be an efficient biofertilizer in rice cultivation, even in the soil with insufficient nutrient.