The occurrence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in soil and root of medicinal plants in Bu Ali Sina garden in Hamadan, Iran
Introduction: The study of symbiotic relationship between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and medicinal plants is very important. Information about the symbiosis of medicinal plant species with AMF in the semi arid regions of Iran is rare. This information allows increasing knowledge of the biology and ecology of these plant species. Materials and methods: The existence of AM symbiosis in 48 medicinal plant species (belonging to 9 families) was studied by root staining. Soil around the root of each species was sampled and analyzed for all soil properties which may be interrelated to AM symbiosis. The importance of different soil properties in AMF and plant biological relationship and the dependency of root colonization and spore formation by AMF on soil properties were statistically analyzed. Results: Among them Lepidium sativum, Brassica oleracea, Cheiranthus cheiri, Beta vulgaris, Spinacia oleracea, Malva sylvestris, Zygophyllum fabago, Arctium Lappa have not been colonized by AM fungi. Colonization and spore density of perennial plants were slightly higher than those of annual plants and were varied among different plant families. Soil texture and available phosphorous were the most important soil properties affecting fungal root colonization and spore numbers. Discussion and conclusion: Although in accordance with other researches, most of the medicinal plants from Brassicaceae family had no mycorrhizal symbiosis, a few of them had this type of symbiosis. Dependency of spore formation by AM fungi on soil properties was higher than dependency of root colonization percentage on soil properties. Increasing root colonization and spore numbers with increasing the percentage of sand and decreasing the percentage of clay and available phosphorous in soils show that plants are more depended on mycorrhizal symbiosis in hard environments and less productive soils.