PRODUCTION OF AXENIC VESICULAR-ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROOT ORGAN CULTURE AND EFFICACY TEST BY FIELD TRIAL

The present experiment was conducted during the year of 2014-15 at Patanjali Bio Research Institute, Uttarakhand, India. The objective of this research was to develop processes for production of contaminant free vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungal inoculum through In-vitro method by using Zea mays as hosts for the fungus and to investigate its effectiveness as Biofetilizer formulation on Zea mays as test crop grown under field condition. The viable spores were isolated from Cynodon dactylon roots and its rhizosphere soil and analyzed for native association with VAM fungi. The isolated viable spores were co-cultured with Zea mays roots developed through plant tissue culture. The VAM biofertilizer was formulated by mixing the axenic VAM spores with bentonite carrier and tested for efficiency in the field. The finding of this experiment revealed that the colonization percentage (91.28±1.63), number of vesicles (38.47±0.93), viability of spore (89.9±2.09%) and spore density (4459.0±401.49) were significantly high for the VAM inoculum developed through root culture in comparison to conventional method (VAM inoculum production by pot culture, on-farm, aeroponic system, hydroponic cultures & nutrient film technique). The efficacy of developed product was tested by using Anola fruit compost (two type fine and course) with VAM fertilizer and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) with VAM fertilizers whereas control received only FYM. The field trial result showed that vegetative growth and fruit yield were significantly higher in treatments received VAM fertilizer than untreated control. Most of the traits were reported significantly higher in treatment T2 which received VAM fertilizer with coarse compost. The parameters like plant fresh weight (159.27±23.80 g), plant dry weight (52.81±7.14 g), root fresh weight (34.24±5.65 g), root dry weight (10.84±2.06 g), root numbers/plant (38.67±1.65), root length (30.22±0.81 cm), leaf surface area (328.89±52.25 cm2), fruit yield (41.73±4.89 quintal/acre), number of fruits/acre (22.93±2.43 nX103), fruit weight (233.81±18.46 g), fruit length (31.0±1.39 cm), number of grains/fuit (446.78±6.73), fresh grain weight (121.06±8.69 g), dry grain weight (62.39±7.25 g) and fruit girth (16.78±0.49 cm) were recorded significantly higher for the treatment T2 having VAM fertilizer with course compost. This is the first kind of experiment where plant tissue culture technique was applied for the formulation of axenic VAM biofertilizers as well as tested for its efficacy at field level.