Impact of burning of postharvest debris on soil arbuscular mycorrhizal flora in agricultural field

Post harvest burning is a serious problem in India and south east Asia.The crop residue burning adds greenhouse gases and pollutants, which are serious threat to environment.Beside these, burning has an impact on soil microflora.Effect of crop residue burning on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal (AMF) flora in agricultural soil was studied in two sites, Beraberia than Singdiha from two districts of Purba and Paschim Medinipur, W.B., India.Burning affected the mycorrhizal spore density significantly (p>0.01),especially the smaller spores, mostly belonging to Glomus.The larger spores were studied and identified.Total 15 species with larger spores were noticed in both fields, six species were found only in Singdiha, in both burned and unburned sites.Acaulospora nicolsonii and Glomus scintillans are common in both in burned and unburned soil of both sites.Acaulospora excavata and MS8, Claroideoglomus claroideum was noticed only in unburned soil.Racocetra spp.were noticed only in burned sites.