Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi associated with wild medicinal plants exhibit variation in phosphorus concentration during growth developmental stages

Abstract

Three herbaceous medicinal plants (Rauwolfia serpentina, Catharanthus roseus and Andrographis paniculata) growing in wild were studied for AM fungal association and P concentration at different growth stages. All the plant species were found to be colonized by AM fungi but varied in the extent of colonization and sporulation among the plant species during developmental stages. Twenty-one AM fungal species were recovered from the rhizosphere soil at different growth stages. Glomus fasciculatum was found to be the most commonly occurring AM fungal species in all the growth stages of three medicinal plants. The results of the present study revealed that an increase in the P concentration during flowering stages of A. paniculata and C. roseus is directly related to the presence of arbuscules. In addition to this, the study also confirmed that higher P levels in plants decreased the AM fungal spore production in the rhizosphere soil.