Mycorrhiza products - soil inocula
Benefits of soil inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
There are situations in agricultural land areas and crop production systems where inoculation with RHIZO-VAM BASIC or RHIZO-VAM POW are useful and necessary. That are situations where the native, indigenous mycorrhiza propagule concentration is too low (or in deficit, see Sieverding, 1991) to support plant growth. Such situations can be found always where i) soils or substrates have been sterilized or disinfected in some way (e.g. sterilized potting or nursery substrates, compost, solarisation, etc to eliminate pathogens; such procedure eliminates also native mycorrhiza)), or ii) where soils have been cultivated in monoculture, or iii) where high fertilizer and pesticide doses were applied (in particular ammonium and urea nitrogen). Later situations are regularly found in conventional vegetable and berry or grape production systems, so that it is always useful to inoculate there. Also, sandy soils are often in deficit of native mycorrhizal fungal communities, or soils cultivated several seasons with non-mycorrhizal plants like oil seed rape and sugarbeet. If specific information is needed about usefulness of inoculation with RHIZOVAM BASIC or RHIZO-VAM POW, please contact RHIZO-MIC UG. We are pleased to assist you.
Arbuscular mycorrhiza has one principle function as shown in the graph below. Due to extended soil volume explored, the plant has better nutrition, needs in particular up to 50% less phosphate fertilizers and plants roots are healthier. Better water supply is the result of good mycorrhiza colonization of roots. Also, mycorrhiza is very important for helping Rhizobia in legumes fixing nitrogen. Plants survive significantly better the transplant shock to the field, when they were mycorrhized in the nurseries. Mycorrhiza inoculation with RHIZO-VAM BASIC or RHIZO-VAM POW improves soil structure by enhanced formation of Glomalin, a mycoprotein produced by the fungus that glues coarser soil particles together.
Up to 200 x increased soil volume explored by mycorrhizal fungal mycelium for nutrients
Arbuscular mycorrhiza cannot be seen by naked eyes; their structures in roots must be stained and spores must separated from soil by specific procedures.
Arbuscular mycorrhiza structures are only visible in microscope after staining (here blue) in roots (left, with hyphae, vesicles, arbuscles) or soil (middle, root external mycelium). Spores (right), mycelium and mycorrhiza colonized roots of Glomeromycotean fungi that form arbuscular mycorrhiza are infective propagules in inocula of arbuscular mycorrhiza | | |
RHIZO-MIC UG currently offers two mycorrhiza products:
RHIZO-VAM BASIC and RHIZO-VAM POW (see further subsections)
