Vol. 11, Special Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
Shivani Kaundal and Ritika Singh

Abstract:
In natural environments, plants interact simultaneously with a broad spectrum of both pathogenic and beneficial microorganism that might influence plant performance and survival. Among soil microbes arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are very common soil micro-organisms that colonize the roots of majority of crop species and establish a symbiosis. They provide direct benefits to the host crop which leads to the increased crop productivity by increasing biomass and grain yield. Notwithstanding the global importance of wheat as an agricultural crop, its responses to AM symbiosis has been poorly investigated. Therefore the present investigation was conducted to study the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in wheat crop in mid hill region of Himachal Pradesh. Rhizospheric soils samples along with wheat roots (Triticum aestivum) were collected from multiple sites of Chail Chowk areas, near Abhilashi University, Mandi. The analysis revealed the presence of seven diverse species of fungi out of which Aspergillus and Fusarium were found to be the predominant genera in the fields. Seven species of VAM fungal spores belonging to 3 genera (Acaulospora, Glomus, and Gigaspora) while Glomus and Acaulospora as were most dominant genus.