Effect of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae on seedling growth of four tree species from the tropical deciduous forest in Mexico

✍ Scribed by Pilar Huante; Emmanuel Rincon; Edith B. Allen

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 478 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0940-6360
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00203860

✦ Synopsis

The influence of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae on the growth of seedlings of Caesalpinia eriostachys, Cordia allioclora, Ipomoea wolcottiana and Pithecellobium mangense was investigated in a greenhouse experiment conducted at the Biological Station of Chamela on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Dry biomass production, relative growth rate, root/shoot ratio and mycorrhizal dependency were quantified for 75-day-old seedlings. With the exception of the pioneer species L wolcottiana, mycorrhizal infection resulted in increases in biomass production, relative growth rate and leaf area. The root/shoot ratios attained for the species, however, did not show a consistent trend with infection. Nevertheless, all species had root/shoot ratios below 1 with infection and only one, Cord& alliodora, had a ratio greater than 1 without infection. The two late successional species from the mature part of the forest, Caesalpinia eriostachys and P. mangense, showed a larger mycorrhizal dependency than the two associated with disturbed environments.