TY - BOOK AU - Joseph K AU - Kothandaraman R AU - Mathew J AU - Vimalakumari T G TI - Occurrence of arbuscular mycorrihizal fungi in rubber growing soils and their effect on growth of Hevea brasiliensis seedlings PB - Proceedings of the 15th Plantation Crops Symposium, PLACROSYM XV, 10-13 December 2002, Mysore .pp.317-325. KW - Growth KW - Hevea brasiliensis KW - Mycorrihizal fungi N2 - Occurrence of mycorrhizal spores in rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) growing soils and colonization in roots of mature rubber plants from 16 locations were studied. Spore population varied from 214 to 428 in 50 g of soil. The common general of AM fungi included Glomus, Gigaspora, Acaulospora and Sclerocystis. The AM infection in rubber roots ranged from 67 to 92;. Inoculation of rubber seedlings with eleven comonly occurring AM isolates at different levels of rock phosphate application under sterile condition showed that effect of AM on plant growth varied with different isolates and with different P levels. Most of the isolates gave significant growth improvement of Hevea seedlings at lower P levels. Combined inoculation of seedlings with two AM isolates i.e, Glomus sp. and Acaulospora sp. in unsterile soil gave better response at low levels of P during the early stages of growth than their seperate inoculation. Am colonization was reduced when full dose of P was applied ER -