MARY SUBHASINI HANSDA AND A. K. ROY
Abstract
In order to determine the diversity of VAM fungi in the rhizosphere soil of Iron ore mine of Jeraldaburu District West Singbhum Jharkhand, the dominant plant species viz., Shorea robusta, Bauhinia vahli, Dioscorea pentaphylla, Costus speciosus, Emblica officinalis and Phyllanthus sp. were taken into consideration. The percent of root colonization (RC) for confirmation of infectivity and spore population (SP) for diversity of VAM fungi were studied. Root samples were collected randomly from 10 sites numbering 1-5 from mine lease area and 6-10 from outside mine lease area. Highest root colonization and spore population were recorded from site- 4 in the mine lease area, whereas, RC and SP were found maximum in site- 6 and 8 in the surrounding area. Altogether 18 species of AM fungi belonging to five genera viz. Acaulospora, Glomus, Gigaspora, Sclerocystis and Scutellospora were isolated both from mine lease area and surrounding area. Nine different species of the genus Glomus were recorded of which Glomus fasciculatum was found to constitute dominant VAM fungus followed by species of Acaulospora and other species of Glomus.