MYCORRHIZAE: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
Mycorrhizae are indigenous to soil and plant rhizosphere and potential tools for sustainable agriculture. They enhance the growth of a root system and even of an entire plant and often control certain plant pathogens. It is a fascinating subject, multidisciplinary in nature, and concerns scientists involved in plant heath and plant protection. There have been marked advances in this field during the last few decades. This book stresses the need to document the information, developing a unifying theme which treated mycorrhizae in a holistic manner. Mycorrhizal fungi improve plant vigor and soil quality by using the greater surface area. The hyphae of these fungi extend out into the soil, secrete extracellular enzymes and efficiently absorb the maximum amount of available nutrients and deliver these nutrients back to the plant inside the root cell wall. They play a crucial role in plant nutrient uptake, water relations, ecosystem establishment, plant diversity, and the productivity of plants. Scientific research in this field involves multidisciplinary approaches to understand adaptation of mycorrhizae to the rhizosphere, mechanism of root colonization, effect on plant physiology and plant growth, biofertilization, plant resistance, biocontrol of plant pathogens. The main purpose of the book is to provide a comprehensive source of current literature and future prospects for research. The book has 15 chapters and attempts to present balanced accounts on various aspects of mycorrhizae. Chapter 1 gives an overview of mycorrhizal fungi and their role in reduction in chemicals and sustainable agriculture, while Chapter 2 describes the molecular basis of nutrient exchange between arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) and plants. Other chapters deal with AM fungi as potential bioprotectants against plant pathogens, role of AM fungi in alleviation of soil stresses on plant growth, AM fungi communities in major intensive North American grain productions and indirect contributions of AM fungi and soil aggregation to plant growth and protection. Chapters on AM fungi and their role in plant restoration in native ecosystems and interactions of AM fungi and beneficial saprophytic mycoflora and mycorrhizosphere effect: a multitrophic interaction complex is also discussed. Ectomycorrhizae (ECM) and their importance in forest ecosystem and ECM associations in tropical rain forests, function to maintain tropical monodominance and the use of mycorrhizal biotechnology in restoration of disturbed ecosystem are presented in other chapters. A separate chapter has been devoted to in vitro mycorrhization of micropropagated plants while effective and flexible methods for visualizing and quantifying endorhizal fungi are dealt in detail in the last chapter.
PREFACE
The book is not an encyclopedic review. However, an international emphasis has been placed on trends and probable future developments. The chapters incorporate both theoretical and practical aspects, and may serve as base line information for future research through which significant developments can be expected. This book will be useful to students, teachers and researchers, both in universities and research institutes, especially working in areas of agricultural microbiology, plant pathology, and agronomy.
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