Exploration and culture of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi from wild sago

Abstract

The sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) contains significant potential for carbohydrates. When harvested, the plant produces more than 300kg of dry starch per plant. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF, Glomeromycota) are known to often form symbiotic associations with the majority of higher plants, but there are limited studies on their interaction with Sago. Therefore, this study aims to obtain information on the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi from the rhizosphere of sago palms as well as to prepare pure cultures of the dominant species. Samples were collected from the test plant’s rhizosphere by exploring the West Papua region with a shallow peat area as a base. The soil bulk density in the region was 0.11-0.20 g cm−3 with a low pH (H2O) of 4.1. At the initial stage, a trapping culture was prepared from the rhizosphere soil sample, and a pure culture was then made from the dominant spore using telang (Clitoria ternatea.L) as the host. The observation results of spore morphology revealed that they belonged to Acaulosporaceae, Gigasporaceae, and Glomeraceae. The low abundance and diversity of AMF were caused by abiotic factors, including soil physicochemical properties.