Evaluation of Soil Compositions and Hosts for Sporulation of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (VAM)

Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi are associated with the majority of terrestrial plants. It is well known to use VAM as biofertilizer in phosphorus deficient soil. However, our knowledge about this symbiosis is still limited. The study was done to evaluate optimum growth requirements for VAM spore production using different soil based composition and host plant. The investigation was done to evaluate maize and sorghum as hosts and 4 different soil compositions of sand, soil, vermicompost and cocopeat as substrate for better VAM sporulation. Sporulation of VAM was found better in maize as compared to sorghum as host using equal portion of soil, sand and vermicompost mixture.