G. Nowo Nekou, A. Tatchou Wada, R. Tobolbaï, A.-M. Sontsa-Donhoung, Hawaou, M. Bahdjolbe, D. Nwaga
Arbuscular mycorrhizaL fungi are capable of increasing crop yields by 50 to over 200%. However, the controlled and large-scale exploitation of this symbiosis is limited by the complexity and variability of the interactions between the partners. A pot experiment was carried out to study the effect of inoculation of four CMA species and their consortium on perpetual leek (Allium ampelloprasum). Perpetual leek plants were grown in a sterilized soil/sand mixture and inoculated with G. margarita (Gm), R. intraradices (Ri), S. gregaria (Sg), G. hoi (Gh), and their consortium supplied by the Soil Microbiology Laboratory of the Biotechnology Centre of the University of Yaoundé I. The inoculums treatments and the control, consisting of 15 pots with two plants each, were placed in open-air barns and watered daily until harvest. Root, stem, and growing medium samples are collected for root staining, biomass, chlorophyll determination, and sporulation. The results show that Ri is the most efficient followed by the mixture of strains (MS), Sg, Gm, and Gh. However, their ability to produce spores and colonize roots did not follow the same trends. The highest extra-root sporulation was observed in Gh (165 spores/g) followed by Gm, Sg, and Ri (120, 90, and 85 spores/g). These AMF produced very distinct types of intra-root spores. Responses to mycorrhization of perpetual leek are high: they vary from +264, +290, +337, +340 to +501%, for mycorrhizal dependence from +73, +74, +77, +77 to +83%, respectively when perpetual leek is in symbiosis with Gm, Sg, Gh, mixed strains and Ri.
