What do you know about mycorrhization of the garden?

 

Is mycorrhization of fruit plants necessary? This question is becoming more and more common among gardeners. Given the characteristics of the growth and development of trees and bushes in specific perennial garden biocenoses, we can say: yes, we need it!

Mycorrhiza has special significance in providing optimal growth and fruit plants crop formation. Such plants as blueberry, cranberry, lingonberry just languish without mycorrhiza. There are usually several reasons of this but perhaps the main reason we’ll call unprepared soil for the regular work of root system that is an absence of regular for this plants microflora in it, mainly fungi that is mycorrhiza. What affects is that compared to field crops the root system of horticultural crops grows and develops in aggressive acidic soil environment for 10 and more years on one place. It is definitely easier to perform the roots’ main function - nutrition with the help of mycorrhiza fungi.

Photo #1. The root system of the blueberry bush treated by Mycofriend product

Thanks to such symbiosis the surface of absorption of root system is getting bigger and wider, mineral compounds are getting inside the roots in easily accessible form. For the gardening, especially of southern regions of Ukraine, the important issue is that mycorrhiza performs the function of providing plants with moisturer. That is why the study of the effect of the biological preparations on mycorrhizal activity of different fruit crops is quite relevant.

Practical experience

The specialists of BTU-CENTER have studied the efficiency of mycorrhization in particular on the example of walnut, hazelnut, high blueberry, currant, red currant, gooseberry, garden strawberry and grapes.

In these researches was used a complex mycorrhizal preparation Mycofriend. It obtained by microbiological synthesis, the active ingredient in which is a mixture of effective microorganisms: Glomus, Trichoderma harzianum. The fungi of the family Glomus form obligatory form of mycorrhiza. The point of action of fungi is: when treated into roots the spores get into rhizosphere (pre-root zone), germinate there, and grow inward the root by hyphae, penetrate into its deep cloth and gradually enter into symbiosis, forming mycorrhiza and after it they start working, dissolving in soil insoluble phosphates for the plants use, etc.

The preparation Mycofriend in a different norms was treated to the pre-root zone of the soil twice, and 15–20 days after the last treatment, the root system was selected and analyzed.

The effect of the action of the mycorrhizal preparation was clearly shown in the photographs of the treated roots of blueberry, gooseberry and hazelnut in comparison with the control variants (Photo #2, Photo #3, Photo #4). It is clearly seen the light plague on the blueberry roots (Photo #1). At 160x magnification, we can observe fungal hyphae on treated roots compared to the control variant where we don’t have them or they are very few.

Blueberry (Rosetta Agro, blueberry variety Draper)

Photo #2

Gooseberry (NULES of Ukraine, gooseberry variety Vasylko)

Photo #3

Hazelnut (Institute of Horticulture of NAAS of Ukraine, hazelnut varieties Svyatkovyi and Dolynskyi)

As the results of studies, both endo-, ecto- and ectoendo- mycorrhiza types are formed on the roots of garden plants. All of them form a continuous interweaving of hyphae (Photo #5). When an ectomycorrhiza (external) is formed, the mycelium of the fungus envelops the ends of young roots, forming a kind of covers, and penetrates into the intercellular spaces without destroying the cells (Photo #6). In this case, there are no root hairs, and the root cap turns into one or two layers of cells. Ectomycorrhiza is observed in many trees. On the root system of one plant, one or even several types of fungi can form mycorrhiza. But more often, a certain fungus-symbiont corresponds to any type of higher plant in plant groups.

Therefore, the mycorrhizal preparation Mycofriend contributes to positive changes in the vegetation of horticultural crops, in particular:

• Active population of the root and pre-root zone of the plant by useful fungi and bacteria;
• Increasing of the absorption area by the root system of the plants thanks to the development of mycorrhiza;
• Accelerating of soils restoration after destructive impact of anthropogenic factors;
• Supplying vitamins, phytohormones, amino acids to the plants, that is the crops must get balanced mineral (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium etc.);
• Proving of better seeds germination and feeding seedlings.
  
  

Volodymyr SILENKO, Candidate of agricultural sciences, a head of expert department of BTU-CENTER