Vol. 6, Issue 6 (2017)

Author(s):
Meena Kumari, Heerendra Prasad, Sonia Kumari and Samriti

Abstract:
The exploitation of symbiotic feature of AM fungi is one of the efficient approaches to improve crop tolerance to unfavored environment. Generally, vascular plants have been considered as autonomous organisms especially when their performance has been interpreted at the genomic and cellular level. But in reality, vascular plants provide a unique ecological niche for diverse communities of cryptic symbiotic microbes which often contribute multiple benefits, such as enhanced photosynthetic efficiency, nutrient and water use and tolerance to stress. In fact, AM fungi are probably the most ubiquitous soil microbe that can colonize 80% of terrestrial plant species consisted of many fruit crops. Many beneficial effects from mycorrhizal colonization including increased seedling survival, enhanced growth, fruit yield and quality, uniformity of fruit crops, and earlier and increased flowering as well as induced resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses.