Resumen

GONZALEZ-MONTERRUBIO, César F.; MONROY-ATA, Arcadio; GARCIA-AMADOR, Esther Matiana  y  OROZCO-ALMANZA, María Socorro. Influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on Opuntia streptacantha Lem. plants exposed to drought under greenhouse conditions. TIP [online]. 2005, vol.8, n.1, pp.5-10. ISSN 1405-888X.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) develop symbiotic associations with the majority of vascular plants. Cacti are succulent plants that grow in arid and semi arid regions of America. The study reported in this paper was aimed to assess the influence of AMF on the survival, biomass production, root/shoot ratio, water use efficiency, relative growth rate and caulinar water potential in Opuntia streptacantha (Cactaceae) seedlings, grown in moist and dry soils in pots, under greenhouse conditions. The results showed that the plants inoculated with AMF and under moist treatment had a significant increase (p≤0.05) in their survival percentage (28%), relative growth rate (37%), biomass production (59.2%), water use efficiency (59%) and water potential (112%), in contrast to uninoculated plants. Also, the inoculated plants under dry treatment presented an important increase (p≤0.05) in their caulinar water potential. This fact confirms that AMF inoculation fosters the survival, growth, water relations and O. streptacantha seedling establishment and that it may maintain the plant water balance during drought periods. This is why it is suggested to inoculate Opuntia seedlings with AMF in order to restore arid and semi arid deteriorated ecosystems.

Palabras llave : Root/shoot ratio; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Opuntia streptacantha; water potential.

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