ICOM1 Abstract

BARNOLA, L.1, C. Hamel2 and D. Smith1 1Department of Plant Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus. 2Department of Natural Resources Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, 2111 Lakeshore Road Ste-Anne- de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, H9X 3V9. - Evaluation of the efficiency of different AM fungi on sweet corn (Zea mays) and pepper (Capsicum frutescens) under greenhouse and field conditions. The objective of this research is the selection of the most efficient arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus on pepper (Capsicum frutescens L. cv. North star) and sweet corn (Zea mays L. cv. Bicolor) growing under greenhouse and field conditions. Nine different AM strains were produced in pot cultures with marygold plants (Tagetes patula L.). Both pepper and sweet corn were inoculated with each one of the nine AM fungi and a non-mycorrhizal control and planted in pasteurized soil (greenhouse) in 4 different locations in the field. Under greenhouse conditions a strain of Glomus intraradices showed the highest levels of colonization for both pepper and sweet corn. At the same time, the same inoculum exerted a significative decrease of pepper mass compared with the control. In the other hand, corn plants showed a significative increase of mass when inoculated with G. microcarpum. Under field conditions, no significant results were obtained for pepper mass whereas a significant decrease of mass was observed for sweet corn inoculated with the same strain of G. intraradices. No differences were observed in both sweet corn and pepper when comparing the effect of the same mycorrhizal species, G. aggregatum, but from different sources (undisturbed habitat and a field sample).