Impact of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Other Bioinoculants on Growth Promotion in Linum Usitatissimum L.

In the present investigation, the contributions of two indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus mosseae, Acaulospora laevis), along with Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens on growth parameters of Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) were examined. The result obtained indicated the dependence of L. usitatissimum on mycorrhizal symbiosis. The different growth parameters increased significantly after 120 days of inoculation in comparison to control. Among all the growth parameters plant height (73.64±1.730), fresh shoot weight (2.99±0.208), dry shoot weight (0.44±0.002), total chlorophyll content (0.431±0.006) and acidic (0.196±0.003) and alkaline phosphatase activity (0.044±0.004) were recorded highest in triple inoculation of G. mosseae + A. laevis + T. viride while fresh root weight (0.186±0.008), dry root weight (0.031 ±0.001), root length (16.36±1.313), percent mycorrhizal root colonization (87±2.270), AM spore number (92±3.808) and shoot (0.0338±0.006) and root (0.0352±0.009) phosphorus content were highest in combination of G. mosseae + A. laevis + T. viride + P. fluorescens. These results indicate that combinative inoculation with two native AMF isolates (G. mosseae, A. laevis), T. viride and P. fluorescens significantly increased growth and other parameters followed by triple inoculation of G. mosseae + A. laevis + T. viride combination. Thus the improvement in plant growth could be attributed to the enhancement of the plant to absorb more nutrients via an increase in the absorbing root surface area due to mycorrhizal symbiosis.