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Scientific consensus recognizes
that a critical component of soil management involves
replenishment or enhancement of the natural soil biota to create
sustainable plant growth. Such a critical component includes
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) which form mutualistic
associations with the roots of most flowering plants, and confer a
variety of benefits on the host in relation to nutrient
supplementation and pathogen and drought resistance. AMF inoculum
is produced commercially and used routinely in North America,
Europe and Australasia, but its application in an African context
is extremely limited and the use of imported products has proved
largely unsuccessful or cost-ineffective for local plant/soil
systems. This project aims to use indigenous AMF, isolated from
local soils, in developing the technology for large-scale
production of high quality AMF inoculum. These products will be
evaluated for specific niche markets using different technologies
appropriate to their value addition. An African culture collection
of AMF germplasm will be established and multiagent products
incorporating bacterial biocontrol agents will also be developed. |