Abstract

PRIETO-BENAVIDES, Oscar Oswaldo et al. Identification  of  arbuscular  mycorrhizal  fungi  in cocoa agroforestry systems in the Ecuadorian humid tropics. Agron. Mesoam [online]. 2012, vol.23, n.2, pp.233-239. ISSN 2215-3608.

The objective of this study was to determine the fungal species  forming  arbuscular  mycorrhizal  (AM)  inhabiting in  traditional agroforestry systems with cacao  (Theobroma cacao L.). Five agroecosystems located  in farms from the humid tropics in Ecuadorian  central region were sampled, particularly  the  farms  ‘La  Represa’,  ‘La  Propiedad’,  ‘La Union’, ‘Fatima’  and ‘Mi Recuerdo’ located in Quevedo and  Valencia  cantons of Los Rios province. Soil and  root samples  were  collected  during  the  dry  season  between June and December of 2009. The fungi genera found were: Gigaspora, Acaulospora, Glomus and Scutellospora. In all sites sampled,  Glomus was the most representative genus in terms of amount of spores found per gram of soil, while Gigaspora was the genus of which fewer spores were found. The percentage of existing level of mycorrhizal colonization in T. cacao was also assessed, with the highest percentage found in samples collected from  farms ‘Mi Recuerdo’ and ‘La Union’, whilst the lowest percentage was found in the roots of T. cocoa collected from ‘La Propiedad’ farm.

Keywords : Theobroma cacao L.; agroforestry; arbuscular mycorrhiza.

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