An ecological view of arbuscular mycorrhizal status in some Egyptian plants

Abstract

A field survey was conducted to investigate the correlation between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and soil properties in four different districts of Dakahlia governorate, Egypt. Among the 40 plant samples collected from different soils, 32 were colonized with AM fungi in varied extents. While, few plant species belonging to Chenopodiaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Cruciferae, Cyperaceae and Labiatae were found to be non-mycorrhizal. Our investigations indicated that soil salinity appeared to be a limiting factor for the occurrence of AMF spores and mycorrhizal colonization. While, soil pH level had no direct effect on the mycorrhizal colonization or number of spores in the rhizosphere soil. Increases in soil organic matter content was favored mycorrhizal colonization and spores number. Available phosphorus content was positively correlated with either spores number or the percentage of mycorrhizal colonization. Extracted AMF spores were belonged to two genera Glomus and Scutellospora. Spores belonging to the genus Glomus were the most frequent in this survey; many of these were identified as G. mosseae and G. etunicatum.