Inoculation with rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in <i>Leucaena leucocephala</i> plants in nursery phase in a neutral pH substrate

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the simple and combined inoculation with three local rhizobia isolates (R1, R2 and R3) and two species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus cubense -AMF1- and Claroideoglomus claroideum -AMF2-) on mycorrhizal colonization, nodulation, growth and biomass production of Leucaena leucocephala in a substrate with a close to neutrality pH under greenhouse conditions. Thirteen treatments were evaluated in a completely randomized design with five replications. The inoculation and co-inoculation promoted greater plant growth with respect to the control without inoculation and to the fertilization treatment. Within the inoculation and co-inoculation treatments, one rhizobium isolate (R2) stood out for producing the highest plant height and leaflet production, while the R3 + AMF1 and R3 + AMF2 combinations promoted the highest plant height, and also promoted higher biomass together with R1 + AMF1. In addition, the R3 + AMF2 combination stood out for presenting a high number of AMF spores, frequency and intensity by AMF colonization, and nodule activity. It is concluded that inoculation with local rhizobia isolates and their combination with AMF favors the development of mycorrhizal structures, nodulation, growth and biomass production of L. leucocephala grown in a substrate with neutral pH. Isolate R2 and the combination R3 + AMF2 were identified as effective inoculants to increase plant growth.