Test of the Number of Spores of Indigenous Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in the Pujut Dryland and Its Relationship with Soil and Plant Nutrients

¹ Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nahdlatul Wathan Mataram, Indonesia
² Faculty of Agriculture of Udayana University, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

The dryland area of NTB was 1,807,463 ha, with slopes greater than 15% and three wet months. NTB dryland contained a high concentration of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM). VAM was a type of fungus that could associate with plant roots. Plant infection by VAM involved propagules consisting of VAM spores, infested soil, and roots. VAM played an important role in the carbon and phosphate cycle, specifically. Additionally, VAM also affected the availability of phosphate nutrients by absorbing phosphate from the soil and converting it. This study aimed to determine the number of VAM spores, the extent of root infection by VAM, and their relationship to soil and plant nutrient availability. The study was conducted using a Randomised Block Design with six treatments, each repeated four times: D0, D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5. The results showed that the density of MVA spores varied, with the highest number occurring in treatments D4 and D5, which also exhibited 96.43% root infection, 3.53% organic C content, 19.88% soil available P, and 0.09% plant tissue P. The high number of MVA spores was followed by increased soil nutrient content.