Mycorrhizas in hill-country soils

Abstract

Hill-country soils (37) were examined for spores of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Spore types of 6 spp. were found in the genera Glomus [G. fasciculatus, G. macrocarpus var. macrocarpus, G. mosseae], Gigaspora [calospora], Acaulospora [laevis] and Sclerocystis [cf. sinuosis]. G. fasciculatus and A. laevis were the most common and had the highest number of spores. No spore types were exclusive to soils with efficient mycorrhizal fungi or absent from soils with inefficient fungi. Non-sporing strains of mycorrhizal fungi may be common in soils, and mycorrhizal infection may often occur after hyphal growth from infected root segments rather than from spores.