Effect of cropping sequence, fertilizers and farmyard manure on vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in different crops over three consecutive seasons

摘要

The influence of cropping sequence with and without fertilizer and farmyard manure application on vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae was studied over three consecutive seasons. In the first season maize was grown on all the plots. In the second season cowpea, groundnut and finger millet were raised on the same plots and in the third season, sunflower was grown on all the plots. The groundnut grown in the second season stimulated mycorrhizal root colonization, sporulation and infective propagules in the soil, and these effects were carried over to the next season. The plots cropped to finger millet in the second season had the lowest number of mycorrhizal spores. The application of farmyard manure stimulated vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae while fertilizers at the recommended level decreased the mycorrhizal propagules.