AFFINITY OF DUTCH IRIS TO ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAE

Abstract

Quality of Dutch iris bulbs produced in field conditions is important for obtaining marketable cut flowers by forcing in greenhouse. Natural occurring symbiotic micromycetes can facilitate important nutrient acquisition for plants with short vegetative cycle such as geophytes. In an open field experiment established in April 2018 in Cluj county Romania, was evaluated susceptibility of some Iris × hollandica cultivars to colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi in first stages of rooting. Average number of entry points per cm root length was 11 after twelve days in field. Density increased with second centimetre from root apex. Arbuscular mycorrhizae infection sites on roots before advanced proliferation occurs can be used as indicator both for soil mycorrhizal potential as well as plant genotype affinity to these symbiotic fungi.

Keywords

• entry points, infection unit, hyphopodium, ornamental geophyte, glomeromycota