Multi-functional properties of mycorrhizal fungi for crop production : The case study of banana development and drought tolerance

This work discusses the potential of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi) in improving nutrient uptake and drought tolerance of banana/plantain. Mycorrhizal fungi can also stimulate plant-beneficial properties such as flowering, development and crop yield in African soils. Inoculation of soils with selected strains could be used for restoration of soils with low activities of the fungus. Banana/plantain needs a lot of water and is very sensitive to drought stress and diseases. The potential benefit of symbiosis of banana-AM fungi was tested under nursery and farm conditions. For drought tolerance, test was done after 40 days of varied soil water field capacity: 90, 60 and 30%. Plant growth, leaf surface and dry weight are significantly stimulated by mycorrhiza in Oxisol and Andosol soils under nursery conditions. The correlation between water use efficiency and drought tolerance showed that AM fungal inoculation provided 30% more water to banana after 40 days of stress and AM fungi-inoculated micro-propagated banana provided bigger bunch than did non-inoculated ones under farm conditions in an Oxisol. These results indicate that inoculation with AM fungi could be a useful and practical approach towards sustainable banana production system. The cost/benefit ratio of inoculation could be determined to envisage its incorporation into nursery.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Nwaga, D., Tenkouano, Abdou, Tomekpé, Kodjo, Fogain, Roger, Kinfack, D.M., Tsané, Godefroy, Yombo, O.
Format:	conference_item biblioteca
Language:	eng
Published:	Springer [Pays-Bas]
Subjects:	F62 - Physiologie végétale - Croissance et développement, H50 - Troubles divers des plantes, F01 - Culture des plantes,
Online Access:	http://agritrop.cirad.fr/561888/
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