The Abundance of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Spores in Rhizospheres of Different Crops

The number of spores of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi occurring in the rhizospheric soil of 14 crops was investigated using traditional wet-sieving/decanting methods. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of some agronomy species (Gramineae, Leguminosae, Solanaceae, Labiatae, Cruciferae, Umbellifera, and Alliaceae) on VAM spores numbers in therhizosphere. The agronomy species were planted under green house conditions in pots containing semiarid soil. The number of sporesin the rhizosphere of each species was studied at the middle and end of vegetative plant growth. In the middle of vegetative growth the number of spores increased significantly in the rhizosphere of some species compared to the control (152 spores 10 g-1 dry soil).The number of spores was lower in Raphanus sativa rhizospheric soil (115 spores 10 g-1 dry soil) and higher in Zea maysrhizospheric soil (255 spores 10 g-1 dry soil). At the end of vegetative growth the number of spores increased only in the rhizosphereof Triticum aestium, Zea mays, Trifolium repens, Solanum tuberosum, Satureja hortensis, and Allium cepa, and this increase wassignificant. In this stage of plant growth the number of spores was lowest in Raphanus sativa rhizospheric soil (126 spores 10 g-1dry soil) and highest in A. cepa rhizospheric soil (453 spores 10 g-1 dry soil).