Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculations on growth and seedling quality of four Leucaena species

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the suitability of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi for inoculation of four Leucaena species, namely L. collinsii, L. shannoni, L. diversifolia and L. leucocephala for assessing their effect on growth and seedling quality index (SQI) at nursery stage. Study consisted of three mycorrhizal treatments (Acaulospora scrobiculata, Rhizophagus irregularis and A. scrobiculata + R. irregularis) and a control. Inoculation of A. scrobiculata significantly increased only root length, while inoculation of R. irregularis increased almost all studied parameters. Among tested Leucaena species, L. collinsii and L. leucocephala showed better response towards inoculated fungi. Plants inoculated with R. irregularis showed higher mycorrhizal dependency (20.75%) than other inoculants. L. leucocephala recorded maximum mycorrhizal dependency (MD) followed by L. collinsii. R. irregularis increased SQI significantly, irrespective of tested Leucaena species. Thus, the results suggested that the seeds of two Leucaena species viz., L. leucocephala and L. collinsii may be inoculated with R. irregularis to obtain more vigorous seedlings.