Fungi as Bio-Fertiliser

Fungi as Bio-Fertiliser

	Fungi as Bio-fertiliser Some nonpathogenic fungi help in plant growth by forming associations with the host plant roots called mycorrhizae (myca- fungi, rhiza -root). Some examples of such fungi are Trichoderma, Gigaspora, Glomus, etc. One group of mycorrhizae forms a sheath around the fine lateral roots and replaces the root hairs by dichotomous branching of the fungal hyphae. They are called ectomycorrhizae because they do not traverse intracellularly. The ectomycorrhizae help the plant by solubilising nutrients near the plant roots and making it easy for the plants to feed. They also prevent the roots from being attacked by nematodes (by entangling them). Another group called the endomycorrhizae penetrate the roots and establish symbiotic relation with the plants.
The fungi helps the roots in obtaining inorganic nutrients while obtaining essential organic nutrients from the host. There is yet another group called ect-endomycorrhiza or vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM fungi) wherein they are partly outside the host roots and partly intracellular. The mycorrhizae are of particular significance in agriculture as they assist plants to absorb phosphates from the soil. Phosphate ions are not very mobile in the soil, thus when a plant uses up all the available phosphate near its roots, it starves for want of phosphates. The mycorrhizal mycelia spread far and wide, away from the depleted zone and trans locates the phosphates directly to the host. Plants with restricted root system, having short stubby roots and few root hairs are particularly benefited by association with mycorrhiza. Absorption of elements which are required in minute quantities by plants are also facilitated by mycorrhizae.
Mycorrhizae are valuable particularly in times of drought. They enable plants to survive and grow in the driest and poorest of soils, even in leached soils that have been mined by deforestation and overcropping. Cultivation of mycorrhizal fungi It is easy to mass cultivate ectomycorrhizal fungi since they can grow in an artificial fungal medium. They are mass produced in liquid media, dried and pressed into cakes or cultivated in the form of spores and packaged. The seed inoculation is performed just as that of Rhizobium. Cultivation of en do mycorrhizal fungi is quite difficult since they need a live host for survival. Hence the host plants harbouring such mycorrhizal fungi are specially grown in laboratory conditions, their roots excised, powdered and the mixture used as a fertiliser.

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