Abstract:
Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Root Inoculant or VAMRI has gained its
popularity as both biofertilizer and biocontrol agent of soil-bome diseases of
various crops at any given condition. This study was conducted to determine the
biocontrol potential and growth effect of VAMRI on Allium cepa L., an
economically important crop, infected with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cepae
grown in two soil types. One way ANOVA in a CRD design was used with
VAMRI treatment, F. oxysporum £ sp. cepae treatment, and soil type as the
independent factors and the growth parameters as the dependent factors. Duncan5s
Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at a = 0.05 was used to determine statistical
difference between treatments. The results showed that there was no significant
difference in the effect of VAM and non-VAM as growth enhancer and biocontrol
agent. The significant difference was only between treatments in plant fresh
weight, both in garden and acidic soil, plant height, bulb number, and dry matter
yield of shoot and bulb, in acidic soil only and not between VAM and non-VAM.
Despite these significant differences, VAMRI has no growth enhancing effect in
native onion bulb. And although there was 100% infection on VAM-treated
plants, VAMRI still did not significantly protect the onions from the F.
oxysporum £ sp. cepae pathogen in either soil type due to the infection of
indigenous VAM in soil of non-mycorrhizal treated onion bulbs.
