Abstract
Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of sour orange ( Citrus aurantium L.) seedlings to inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi under different phosphorus (P) fertilizer levels during transplant production. Six months old seedlings of sour orange were obtained from a commercial nursery and inoculated or not inoculated (control) with a commercial AM inoculum (BioMycVital) in a pot trial in a plastic house. Three P fertilizer levels were applied [15 (low), 45 (medium) and 90 (high) mg kg-¹ soil)] as NPK (18:18:5 + TE) or/and KH 2 PO 4 . Ten months after transplanting, the AM inoculation stimulated growth of sour orange seedlings regardless of phosphorus level. Inoculation coupled with low and medium levels of P fertilizer enhanced the plant dry weight by 34.4 and 20.2% and stem diameter by 25.9 and 17.9% over the noninoculted plants, respectively. However, the enhancement effect for these two growth parameters was insignificant in treatment of inoculation with high P fertilizer in comparison to noninoculated plants. These results indicate that sour orange should be inoculated with AM fungi at nursery stage, with application of medium level of P.
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