Abstract
Description of the subject. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are known to promote plant growth by enhancing mineral uptake in nutrient deficient soils. These beneficial effects on plant growth may vary considerably between cultivars of a given species and between plant species originating from different locations. Objectives. The present experiment evaluated the response of three Sahelian fruit trees: néré (Parkia biglobosa [Jacq.] G.Don), tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.), and jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.), originating from five different geographic provenances, to mycorrhizal colonization, evaluate their respective mycorrhizal dependency (MD) and analyze their leaf and stem mineral composition. Method. Trees were cultivated in a nursery on pre-sterilized soil substrate low in available P (2.18 μg·g-1) with or without inoculum of Glomus aggregatum (Schenck & Smith emend. Koske). The experiment was arranged in a factorial design for each fruit tree species separately: 5 provenances x 2 AM treatments (inoculated and non-inoculated [control]) with 10 replicates per treatment. Plants were harvested six months after inoculation and different parameters were measured. Results. Overall, the results showed significant provenance variations in the plant response to mycorrhizal inoculation. Néré mycorrhizal plants, from two seed sources, tamarind and jujube plants from one seed source had significant higher dry weight and shoot height than those from other provenances. Jujube plants from 3 out of the 5 provenances showed significant higher MD. It then appears that seed provenance happened to be determinant even though AM-root colonization levels (80-90%) do not vary much from one provenance to another. In all cases, the fruit trees benefited from AM fungi with increased N, P and K mineral uptake in aerial parts. In particular P uptake was proportional to MD concentration in AM-jujube plants. Conclusions. These results demonstrate the importance of considering seed provenance when performing pre-selection of mycotrophic plant candidates prior to large-scale fruit tree propagation in orchards and agroforestry systems.
Highlights
Sahelian countries are facing rapid degradation of natural resources resulting in dramatic reduction in soil fertility and provision of food and other ecosystem services
These data on mycorrhizal dependency (MD) and mineral nutrition potential have been focused on a single provenance for néré, tamarind and jujube fruit trees even though the benefits of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on plant growth could vary widely between plant species, and even between cultivars or species from different geographic provenances (Lesueur et al, 2005; Plenchette et al, 2005; Belay et al, 2013; Sousa et al, 2013)
The results showed that in each of the three fruit tree species, no AM formation was observed in noninoculated plants regardless of the provenance, indicating that no contamination occurred between the different treatments (Table 5)
Summary
Sahelian countries are facing rapid degradation of natural resources resulting in dramatic reduction in soil fertility and provision of food and other ecosystem services. Among the fruit tree species well adapted to arid and semi-arid regions and commonly used by farmers, néré (Parkia biglobosa [Jacq.] G.Don), tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) and jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.), three multipurpose fruit trees from West Africa are the most popular These fruit trees grow slowly in West African soils due to different factors amongst which nutrient deficiency, P, and erratic rainfalls (Querejeta et al, 2003; Lynch, 2007) have the most impact. Results are discussed taking into consideration genetic diversity in tree species and provenance influences to optimize large-scale fruit tree production in agroforestry systems
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