SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF MICROPROPAGATED PEACH INOCULATED WITH ENDOMYCORRHIZAL STRAINS

The improvement of the survival rate and growth of micropropagated plantlets using artificial endomycorrhizal (AM) inoculations was studied.
Data on the impact of endosymbiotrophism in relation with the specific replant problems were also collected.
Eleven strains of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi of Hungarian and foreign origin were isolated and maintained on white clover as a host plant.
Four types of substrates were used to select a convenient growing mixture for the development of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). After three months of cultivation on white clover, 7 AMF strains were selected as potential inoculum for micropropagation of GF 677 peach rootstock at the weaning stage.
Two types of substrates were used: one with a standardized, and another with a low nutrient level.
Both substrates were inoculated with soil – 3 percent of the substrate volume – containing AMF infected roots.

A higher plant growth stimulating effect was found in the nutrient poor substrate, where colonization with AM fungi showed a necessity for better nutrient supply.
Effective AMF colonization and high infection frequency on the other hand decreased the growth rate at the very beginning of transplantation.
After 5 months, however, an improved growth could develop, especially with some AMF local isolates of peach origin.
The starter effect of a better nutrient supply (standard Pindstrup 1 media) lasted all along the growing period, suggesting the importance of plant health for the elimination of replant problems.

IV International Symposium on Replant Problems

I. Balla, J. Vértesy, B. Biró, I. Vörös

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1998.477.14