Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi; Potential Inoculants for Cultivation of Aromatic Plant Vetiveria Zizanioides in Alkaline Soil

In order to assess the potentiality of AM fungi in improving the establishment, survival and growth performance of Vetiveria zizanioides var. KSI plants raised in alkaline/sodic soils of Handia, Allahabad, amended with gypsum and organic matter (compost), a pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions. Data on the rate of mortality, mycorrhizal intensity, dry weight of root/shoot and essential oil content in the plants were recorded. In order to assess the potentiality of AM fungi in alleviating the stress conditions in the plants certain physiological parameters, viz. concentration of photosynthetic pigments chl a, chl b and carotenoids, total protein content, proline accumulation, the relative permeability of the root plasma membrane were also estimated. Reduction in mortality rate, proline accumulation, root membrane permeability in vetiver plants grown in gypsum and compost amended soil showed that, adverse effects of alkalinity were reduced to a greater extent. Further, increase in biomass and essential oil production in AM inoculated plants over non-inoculated plants showed that, AM fungi have played beneficial role for vetiver plants under alkaline soil conditions. Thus, the application of native AM fungal inoculum would be of potential use for improving the growth performance and essential oil yield in aromatic plants under alkaline soils.