Biofertiliser: Vam Fungi- A Future Prospect for Biological Reclamation of Mine Degraded Lands

摘要

The mine-degraded lands initially lack viable mycorrhizal fungal population, and thus, the establishment of a vegetative community will be delayed. Mycorrhiza inoculation can enhance productivity of degraded land by increasing drought tolerance of plants and phosphorus availability, which are the main two limiting factors for plant establishment. A number of interacting factors affect the successful colonization of VAM fungi are pH, soil nutrients, organic matter, moisture, temperature, and age of disturbance sites. As mine spoils are devoid of natural mycorrhizal population, saplings should be inoculated in nursery itself. Bulk production of mycorrhiza inoculums, monitoring of plant growth response in pot and field trials are also discussed.