Vol. 9, Issue 3 (2020)

Author(s):
Dr. Ajita Kumar

Abstract:
One third of the land area of the world is dominated by arid and semi-arid climates and additionally human interference with the terrestrial ecosystem aiming at development and subsequent exploitation for increased agricultural production are many times responsible for stressed soil conditions. In India, about 20 million hectares of land is affected by salinity. Reclamation of such stressed and saline soil can possibly be done by aid of VAM/AM fungi. Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (VAM) or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) are ubiquitous in their distribution. These are abundantly associated with nearly 80% of all terrestrial plant species in the form of symbiotic endomycorrhiza. Mycorrhizal association with the plants can help in restoration of the soil and make it arable.