Mycorrhiza Information

Mycorrhiza is the symbiotic association of the mycelium (i.e. filamentous hyphae) of a fungus with the roots of a seed plant. The ancient fossils of terrestrial plant roots have shown the incidence of mycorrhiza. The mycorrhiza information should help us understand the potent effects of microhabitats and mutualism or mutually beneficial association between different kinds of organisms. The scientific community believes that as much as 80 percent of more than 10,000 species of plants are to be mycorrhizal.

Evolution of Mycorrhiza

• Scientists have evidence to infer that the plants in their primitive form evolved through a fungal and rhizoidal symbiosis, which enabled them to draw nutrients as well as water from soil-bed. In the case of terrestrial and perennial plants, it was found that they required symbiosis or mycorrhiza to survive while some species (e.g. weeds) formed mutualism but did not depend on it for survival. Moreover, a smaller species of plants such as aquatics, annual weeds and epiphytes were found to be not having mycorrhiza.

Types of Mycorrhiza

• Mycorrhiza is broadly classified into three groups: ectomycorrhiza, ericoid mycorrhiza and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza. Although they vary in details of their structure, each group of mycorrhiza is common in their functional spheres. By colonizing the host root's cortex, the fungus grows anywhere from a couple of centimeters to one meter, its filaments deeper into soil, absorbing water and nutrients, and carries them to host. Thus fungi use more soil with a lower energy than the roots can on their own. Besides, many mycorrhizal fungi manufacture extra-cellular enzyme as well as organic acids that release phosphorus and zinc from clay elements. Therefore, mycorrhizal fungi are physiologically able to recycle nutrients.

Role of mycorrhiza in Plant Life

• Mycorrhizal propagules govern the plants' succession from seral to climax groups (tolerant plant species). Plants find it difficult to establish themselves in the absence of mycorrhizal fungi due to catastrophes of fire or soil erosion, which reduce the mycorrhizal fungi in the surrounding soil. It is established that plants to be healthy need a variety of mycorrhizal fungi species around them.

Characteristics of Mycorrhizal Fungi

• Each type of mycorrhizal fungi has its own characteristics, inasmuch as some are efficient in releasing nutritious elements bound inside organic material, while some can produce antibiotics for regulating growth, while yet others are found to be active more during certain times of year than other fungi types. In fact, mycorrhizal fungi have developed over a long period and are the characteristic of flourishing ecosystems. If due to certain factors there is lack of diversity, you will find the ecosystems also lacking resilience.

Mycorrhizal Inoculation

• Inoculation means the introduction of a pathogen or antigen into a living organism. Plants, especially in orchards and nurseries as well as in controlled eco-fields, have succeeded with mycorrhizal inoculation, proving there is more of productivity and survival in such plants.