Study on the diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) Fungi in some medicinal plants of Meghalaya
*Dhritiman Chanda, 1G.D. Sharma and Arpita Talukdar
*Department of Botany, University of Science & Technology Meghalaya Pin: 793101 India *Corresponding Author, Email Id:dhriti.delhi@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Mycorrhiza is an intimate association between the branched, tubular filaments (also known as hyphae) of a fungus and the roots of higher plants. They are found in 80% of vascular plant species and also some bryophytes. AM fungi have gained significant attention in recent years because of their role in soil fertility, nutrient uptake, and biocontrol of plant diseases and growth of plants. Meghalaya is home to very rich floral diversity because of its favourable climatic conditions, including the availability of a wide variety of medicinal and aromatic plants. We have studied the association of mycorrhiza in five medicinal plants Aloe vera, Catharanthus roseus, Costus igneus, Prunella vulgaris and Ageratum conyzoids and observed that AM spore population is estimated highest in the plant Prunella vulgaris (62, 50gm-1 soil) with highest root colonization (88%) followed by Catharanthus roseus (56, 50gm-1 soil) with root colonization (76%) Ageratum conyzoides (50, 50gm-1 soil) with root colonization (64%) Costus igneus (38, 50gm-1 soil) with root colonization (52%) and Aloe barbadensis (25, 50gm-1 soil) with root colonization (29%). Gigaspora is found to be dominant AM strain in all the selected medicinal plants.