A blurb on carrots, watermelons and mycorrhizae... edited to fit.
Mycorrhizal fungi growth acts essentially as a long straw to help the carrot root obtain immobile and otherwise unreachable nutrients such as phosphorus and zinc from the soil. The three treatment tests consisted of a) no treatment control group; b) carrots inoculated with the mycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices; and c) carrots inoculated with the mycorrhizal fungi Glomus mosseae. The three treatments were combined with three levels of Triple Super Phosphate.
In general, carrots were found to be highly dependent on the mycorrhizae for optimal growth at low (6 ppm) to very high (250 ppm) levels of soil phosphorus. At extreme soil phosphorus levels (500 ppm), growth did not improve by adding the ycorrhizal fungi. Fungal colonization of the root deceased as soil phosphorous levels increased.
http://www.epa.gov/pesp/strategies/2006/cfcab06.htm
WATERMELLONS
The aim of this research was to determine the optimal plug size, cultivation period and influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on the quality of watermelon transplants. The research was conducted in a heated plastic greenhouse during 2003 and 2004. A three factorial trial was set up as a randomized complete-block design with three replications. The second factor, “mycorrhizae” included the substrate with or without inoculation with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae. In both years the best developed watermelon transplants (highest stem, greatest number of leaves, largest stem diameter, highest plant and root mass) were the ones planted in 100 ml cells. In 2004, inoculated transplants were better in all attributes compared to uninoculated ones. In both years transplants grown for 45 and 55 days were larger and had more leaves per plant, larger stem diameter, and greater plant and root mass compared to those grown for 30 and 45 days.
http://www.actahort.org/members/showpdf?booknrarnr=731_19
