Root growth response of industrial and fruit crops to MykovamTM treatment

Drought is a major concern in crop production particularly in rainfed areas, and the problem is expected to be aggravated by climate change, characterized by weather extremes with more intense and prolonged dry season. This sets limitations to plants' growth as drought-stress hinders root activities Mykovam sup TM is a soil-based biological fertilizer containing spores of beneficial vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and is known to increase plant tolerance to drought and prevent root infection by pathogens. This study primarily aimed at determining the ability of different fruit and industrial crops to enhance mycorrhizal association with Mykovam sup TM, for enhanced resistance to drought stress. Pot experiments of papaya, coconut, and abaca were laid out in CRD with three replications inside the Fruit Crops Nursery, UPLB [University of the Philippines Los Baños]. Root inoculation was done by applying 4 tbsp of Mycovan sup TM, spread uniformly around the root zone of the seedling, followed by watering of the soil to field capacity. Root infection analysis for all the crop samples were done after 31 days. Secondary root samples were analyzed in the Mycorrhizal Lab, BIOTECH-UPLB in order to verify if mycorrhizal association was established. Root infection in treated papaya was quantified at 61.75%, as compared to 3.5% on untreated. In abaca, mycorrhizal infection was at 73.66% on treated and 7% on untreated. Mykovam sup TM also significantly increased the number of secondary roots in papaya and abaca. For the treated coconut seedlings, four different varieties showed 65%, 54%, 59%, and 68% root infection, as compared to 12% on untreated seedlings. It is therefore concluded that Mykovam sup TM treatment results to an effective root-mycorrhizal association in papaya, abaca and coconut seedlings. With this study of root mycorrhizal association of the crops with inoculation of commercial biofertilizer, Mykovam sup TM, further studies are being conducted to determine whether this association can confer improved tolerance to drought.