[CH] Fwd: Beneficial Fungi Boost Pepper Growth
Margaret Lauterbach (melauter@earthlink.net)
Thu, 16 Jan 2003 08:58:12 -0700
FYI. This should enhance hot pepper production too. Margaret L
>ARS News Service
>Agricultural Research Service, USDA
>Jim Core, (301) 504-1619, jcore@ars.usda.gov
>January 16, 2003
>___________________________________________
>
>Beneficial fungi that live on plant roots increased green bell pepper
>yields by as much as one-third in studies by Agricultural Research Service
>scientists.
>
>Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi colonize the roots of most crop plants
>and help plants take in phosphorus and other nutrients from the soil. AM
>fungi have been diminished by modern agricultural practices such as
>tillage, but in many instances can still make important contributions to
>productivity, particularly in organic farming and other systems where
>little if any chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used.
>
>David D. Douds, a microbiologist at the ARS Eastern Regional Research
>Center in Wyndmoor, Pa., studied four different types of AM fungi in three
>plantings from 1997 to 1999. He collaborated with Carolyn Reider, a
>horticulturist at the Rodale Institute Experimental Farm in Kutztown, Pa.,
>to measure the fungi's effects on pepper yield.
>
>They inoculated seedlings before transplanting them into field plots. One
>treatment group contained only the AM fungus, Glomus intraradices; another
>treatment comprised a mixture of three other types of AM fungi; and a
>third, uninoculated group served as the control. Plants were transferred
>into high-phosphorus-soil field plots receiving either composted dairy cow
>manure or conventional chemical fertilizer.
>
>Results showed that inoculating peppers with AM fungi boosted fruit yield.
>The best results were with the fungus mixture, which increased yields each
>year by 14 to 23 percent in plots with added compost, and up to 34 percent
>one year in plots with chemical fertilizers.
>
>Proper selection of an AM inoculum is essential, according to Douds, and
>a mixture of fungi increases the chance of having the right fungus present
>for a given plant.
>
>Past studies have shown that AM fungi benefit plants grown in
>low-phosphorus soil, and that high-phosphorus soils make it harder for the
>fungi to grow on plant roots. However, this study's results suggest that
>using AM fungi in high-phosphorus soils is a management option that
>shouldn't be ignored.
>
>ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
>agency.
>
>___________________________________________
>
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