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Effects of mycorrhizae and phosphorus on growth and nutrient uptake of millet, cowpea and sorghum on a West African soil

Part of: AGS Millet Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2001

M. BAGAYOKO ,
E. GEORGE ,
V. RÖMHELD  and
A. BUERKERT
M. BAGAYOKO
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Nutrition (330), University of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany Present address: Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER), B.P. 251 Bamako, Mali.
E. GEORGE
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Nutrition (330), University of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany Present address: Institute of Plant Nutrition (330), University of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany.
V. RÖMHELD
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Nutrition (330), University of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany Present address: Institute of Plant Nutrition (330), University of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany.
A. BUERKERT
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Nutrition (330), University of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany
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Abstract

Despite numerous reports on the positive effects of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) on plant growth in temperate soils, surprisingly little data exist on the importance of VAM for crop growth on acid sandy soils of West Africa. A pot experiment conducted with local genotypes of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) with and without phosphorus (P) application in a sterilized sandy soil from a farmer's field in Niger showed large growth-enhancing effects of VAM. Phosphorus application led to 18- and 24-fold increases in pearl millet root and shoot dry matter independently of VAM, whereas the shoot and root dry matter of sorghum and cowpea depended largely on the interaction between P application and VAM. With P, VAM increased total uptake of P, K, Ca, Mg and Zn by 2·5- to 6-fold in sorghum and cowpea. On severely P deficient West African soils P application can lead to large increases in early root growth, a prerequisite for early mycorrhizal infection and a subsequent significant contribution of VAM to enhanced plant growth and nutrient uptake.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 135 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 399 - 407
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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