| Summary: | Growth and harvest result of plants are closely affected by symbiotic relationship
of the plant itself and its beneficial soil fungi, which include arbuscular
mycorrhiza (AM). One of many determining factors for growth improvement
level is genetic traits of the host plant. This research is proposed to observe
degrees of dependency of some cultivars of maize to its beneficial soil fungi, and
its correlation to root fractal dimension, physiological performance, and diversity
of endophytic fungi including AM. Six maize cultivars that used in this research
are �Unyil Super�, �Unyil Kuning�, �Bima�, �Srikandi�, �Lamuru�, and �Bisma�.
Dependency level of plant to beneficial soil fungi (BSFD) is calculated using
subtraction of dry weight of plant with non-fumigated soil with the one which soil
has fumigated and divide by the dry weight of plant with non-fumigated soil.
Observed characteristics in this research are: (1) Plant dry weight, (2) Root fungal
infection using tryphan blue, (3) Root fractal dimension, (4) Physiological
performance with Licor�s instrument, and (5) Endophytic fungi diversity with
ARISA method using primer ITS1-ITS2 and AM diversity with T-RFLP method
using primer AML1-AML2. Results shown BSFD level of six cultivars are
categorized as medium (11-29%) with low to high gradient are �Unyil Super�,
�Unyil Kuning�, �Bima�, �Srikandi�, �Lamuru�, and ��Bisma��. Level of BSFD is
significantly showing positive correlations to infection, root fractal dimension,
and photosynthesis rate. Diversity of endophytic fungi and AM are grouped
following different BSFD level on each plant cultivars. Identified genera of
arbuscular mychorrhiza are Acaulospora sp., Glomus sp., Gigaspora sp., and
Scutellospora sp. In maize cultivars with high BSFD are indicating that Glomus
sp. are dominant fungi, while in low BSFD Gigaspora sp. is the dominant one.
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