Effect of VA Mycorrhiza on Dry Weight and Phosphorus Content in Shoots of Cereal Crops Fertilized with Rock Phosphates at Different Soil pH and Temperature Levels

The influence of the VAM fungi Glomus macrocarpum and G. manihotis on shoot dry weight and P contents in the shoots of various graminaceous species was studied in pot culture experiments. The treatments included fertilization with different rock phosphates, four soil pH levels (pH 4.5, 5.5, 6.5, 7.5) and four soil temperatures (20, 25, 30, 35°C). The rock phosphate treatments were compared with soluble phosphate (mono calcium phosphate, MCP) and with a check (no P fertilizer, OP). Increases of shoot dry weight up to 143% could be found with mycorrhizal Triticum aestivum using Kodjari rock phosphate as P source. In the presence of VAM, Sorghum bicolor and T. aestivum fertilized with any of the rock phosphates, except Kola, produced yields comparable with those of plants fertilized with MCP, at soil pH 5.5 to 7.5 and at 25°C soil temperature. As the soil pH increased from 5.5 to 7.5 dry weight declined. Likewise, yields decreased with increasing soil temperature and at 35°C VAM showed no effect in all treatments.