Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and pesticides on Cynara cardunculus growth

M. MARIN,M. YBARRA,A. FÉ

doi:10.23986/afsci.5728

Abstract

Wild cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a promising crop for biomass production. A nursery trial was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of mycorrhizal inoculation on the biomass yield of wild cardoon seedlings and the effect of the pesticides fosetyl-Al, folpet and propamocarb, as fungicides, and isofenphos, phoxim and oxamyl, as insecticides, on cardoon plant growth and the mycorrhization. The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi inocula were: commercial inoculum with Glomus mosseae spores, and an inoculum of a Glomus sp. strain (AMF-i) isolated locally. Mycorrhizal inoculation with either inoculum increased cardoon shoot biomass compared to non-inoculated control plants. The pesticide applications had a neutral or positive effect on cardoon seedling growth. However, the AM fungi colonisation did not decrease except for plants colonised by G. mosseae and treated with the insecticides isofenphos and oxamyl. Thus, the mycorrhiza can survive to pesticide concentrations employed in commercial nursery, and enhance cardoon plant productivity.

Highlights

Spanish climatology, and can be used to protect soils from degradation, at the some time as producing a valuable crop.Mycorrhiza, symbiotic associations between plant roots and determined soil fungi, play a key role in mineral cycling in the ecosystem, affect nutrient uptake by plants, and have been shown to protect plants against biotic and abiotic stress factors (Azcón-Aguilar and Barea 1997), including pathogens (Azcón-Aguilar and Barea1996)
The results show that the mycorrhization in cardoon seedlings inoculated with both arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi increased the biomass (SDW) respect to the control plants
(1990), lower R : S ratios in mycorrhizal plants have been associated with an effective symbiosis that allows an allocation of resources to the shoots

Summary

Research Note

Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and pesticides on Cynara cardunculus growth Miguel Marin, Manuel Ybarra, Ana Fé and Lorenzo García-Férriz. Wild cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a promising crop for biomass production. A nursery trial was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of mycorrhizal inoculation on the biomass yield of wild cardoon seedlings and the effect of the pesticides fosetyl-Al, folpet and propamocarb, as fungicides, and isofenphos, phoxim and oxamyl, as insecticides, on cardoon plant growth and the mycorrhization. The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi inocula were: commercial inoculum with Glomus mosseae spores, and an inoculum of a Glomus sp. The AM fungi colonisation did not decrease except for plants colonised by G. mosseae and treated with the insecticides isofenphos and oxamyl. The mycorrhiza can survive to pesticide concentrations employed in commercial nursery, and enhance cardoon plant productivity

Introduction

Discussion

AM fungi

Findings

These investigations were in part supported by the project