Biodiversity of Endophytic Mycorrhiza in Some Ornamental Flowering Plants of Solan, Himachal Pradesh

ABSTRACT: Arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) are the important mutualistic symbionts of the soil edaphon in most agro-ecosystems. The present experiment was conducted in 2011-2012 to investigate the AM fungal status (AM root colonization, AM spore count and AM diversity) of fifteen ornamental flowering plants. AM root colonization ranged from 14.28 ±2.08 to 100.00 ± 0.0 percent and AM spores in the rhizospheric soil of different ornamental plants also varied significantly. Maximum AM root colonization and spore count was observed in Senecio cineraria (100.00 ± 0.0) and Gladiolus grandiflorus (172.00 ±4.35) respectively. Twenty three different species of AM fungi belonging to five genera i.e. Glomus, Acaulospora, Sclerocystis, Gigaspora and Entrophospora were reported. Glomus was reported to be dominant genera followed by Acaulospora. The study confirmed that biodiversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi differ in different plant species.