Inoculation with Glomus mosseae: An Efficient Biological Management Strategy for Arsenic Mitigation in Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Under Arsenic-Contaminated Soil

Abstract

ABSTRACT A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on mitigation of arsenic (As) in As-contaminated soils with wheat (variety – HD 2967) as the test crop. Soil inbulk was collected from Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bihar,India farm with physicochemicalproperties to conduct a pot experiment using three doses of As (5, 10, 20 mg L−1) and application of Glomus mossaea inoculation (no inoculated, 5 g/pot, and 10 g/pot). Result indicated that the treatment spiked with As 5 ppm and Glomus mossaea @1 g kg−1 showedthe lowest available As (21.80 µg kg−1 soil) and lowest total As (2.533 mg kg−1soil) as compared to all othertreatments. The As content in different parts of plants are found in the orderof roots > shoots> leaves > grain parts in wheat crop. As uptake in grain was found to be positively correlated with available (r = 0.883, p < .001) and total As content in soil (r = 0.869, p < .001) as well. The application of AM fungi @10.0 g kg−1 soil significantly (p < .005) reduced the As content in grain under all the applied treatments. As content ingrain was found to be negatively correlated with total glomalin content of soil(r = –0.430, p < .005), colonization by AM fungi (r = –0.261) and available phosphorus (P) content of soil (r = –0.864, p < .001). The study noticeably indicated that the mycorrhizal inoculation can reduce the As content in the various parts of the wheat in As-contaminated soils.