Agrotechnology

Relationships between the litter colonization by saprotrophic and arbuscularmycorrhizal fungi in a tropical forest and in a nearby pasture

4^th International Conference on Agriculture & Horticulture

July 13-15, 2015 Beijing, China

Raúl Hernando Posada

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Agrotechnol

Abstract:

Fungal colonization of litter has been described mostly in terms of fructification succession in the decomposition process or the process of fungal ligninolysis. No studies have been conducted on litter colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and their relationship with the presence of saprotrophic fungi. In the forest, litter colonization by saprotrophic fungi and AMF increased with depth but the saprotrophic fungal colonization of some litter fragments decreased in the lowermost level of the litter while AMF litter colonization continued to increase. Plant roots mycorrhizal colonization did not correlate with litter colonization. The external hyphae length of AMF is abundant and in common with sample humidity remained constant with increasing depth. In the pasture, litter and root colonization by saprotrophic fungi was higher than the colonization by AMF and both correlated. The external hyphae length of AMF was similar to the forest system but the sample humidity was less than a half. We conclude that in zones of riparian tropical forest with sufficient litter accumulation and abundant AMF external hyphae, the increase in litter colonization by AMF with depth correlates to the colonization by saprotrophic fungi but their presence in the deepest layers is independent of both litter colonization by saprotrophic fungi and root colonization by AMF. While in pastures of Arachispintoi both litter and root colonization by saprotrophic fungi is higher and perhaps faster than in forest due to the changing environmental conditions.