RESPONSE OF TWO STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS TO INOCULATION WITH ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGUS IN DIFFERENT SOILS

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) is an important part of microflora in soil. It is the link between plants and soil. Mycorrhizal fungi increase the efficiency of mineral uptake, especially of the immobile elements such as phosphorus, they increase the water uptake, reduce plant stresses and disease response to plant pathogens due to some morphological or physiological changes in the plant. Crown and root rot in strawberries caused by Macrophomina phaseolina may be an emerging disease following the phase-out of methyl bromide. The experiment was carried out in Huelva (Spain) in a greenhouse during the 2011 crop cycle of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cultivars. Plants were growing in pots of coir fiber substrate. The field experiment was conducted to study the effect of inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal (Glomus intraradices) and the effect of type of soil (soil naturally infected with Macrophomina phaseolina in strawberry plant grown in field) and (sterilized soil) on early vegetative growth. A completely randomized block design (2 types of soil × 2 cultivars × 2 treatments) with three replicates was used. The type of soils used were: A (soil naturally infected with M. phaseolina) and B (sterilized soil); the cultivars used were ‘Splendor’ and ‘Primoris’. The treatments were: inoculation with Glomus intraradices and no inoculation with Glomus intraradices. The substrate was inoculated with 5-10 spores plant^-1 of Glomus intraradices at the beginning of the crop cycle. The results suggested that the effect of inoculation with AM (Glomus intraradices) and the effect of type of soil on early vegetative growth was not significant except for number of leaves on the plant.