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Subject: Compost Teas: 24 hour, EM, IM, BD & fermented plant extracts

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  • From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
  • To: compostteas AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Compostteas] FYI Mycorrhizae Boost Pepper Growth
  • Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 08:49:09 -0500

Any ideas on where to acquire this innoculum, or is a good tea suffecient as a pre-transplant root soak? -Allan

__________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Jim Core, (301) 504-1619, jcore AT ars.usda.gov
January 16, 2003
___________________________________________

Beneficial fungi that live on plant roots increased green bell pepper
yields by as much as one-third in studies by Agricultural Research Service
scientists.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi colonize the roots of most crop plants
and help plants take in phosphorus and other nutrients from the soil. AM
fungi have been diminished by modern agricultural practices such as
tillage, but in many instances can still make important contributions to
productivity, particularly in organic farming and other systems where
little if any chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used.

David D. Douds, a microbiologist at the ARS Eastern Regional Research
Center in Wyndmoor, Pa., studied four different types of AM fungi in three
plantings from 1997 to 1999. He collaborated with Carolyn Reider, a
horticulturist at the Rodale Institute Experimental Farm in Kutztown, Pa.,
to measure the fungi's effects on pepper yield.

They inoculated seedlings before transplanting them into field plots. One
treatment group contained only the AM fungus, Glomus intraradices; another
treatment comprised a mixture of three other types of AM fungi; and a
third, uninoculated group served as the control. Plants were transferred
into high-phosphorus-soil field plots receiving either composted dairy cow
manure or conventional chemical fertilizer.

Results showed that inoculating peppers with AM fungi boosted fruit yield.
The best results were with the fungus mixture, which increased yields each
year by 14 to 23 percent in plots with added compost, and up to 34 percent
one year in plots with chemical fertilizers.

Proper selection of an AM inoculum is essential, according to Douds, and
a mixture of fungi increases the chance of having the right fungus present
for a given plant.

Past studies have shown that AM fungi benefit plants grown in
low-phosphorus soil, and that high-phosphorus soils make it harder for the
fungi to grow on plant roots. However, this study's results suggest that
using AM fungi in high-phosphorus soils is a management option that
shouldn't be ignored.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.






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  • [Compostteas] FYI Mycorrhizae Boost Pepper Growth, Allan Balliett, 01/18/2003

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