| Summary: | The Mycorrhizal Symbiosis is an intimate association which exists between plant root system and a certain group of soil fungi. The relationship gives benefits to plant growth by enabling a greater proportion of the available nutrients in the soil to be absorbed into the plant. Mycorrhizae in pines and other trees belongs to the ectomycorrhizae group. They are easily recognized since each rootlet is enveloped in a sheath of fungal tissue, branches which penetrate on one side into the cortex and on the other side into the soil. Ectomycorrhizae is typically enlarged or wollen, devoid of root hairs and is dichotomously branched. A fungus mantle is formed around the absorbing roots from which the fungal rhizomorphs may extend outwards into the soil.
A proposal for characterizing and identifiying ectomycorrhizae of pine trees and other conifers is discussed. Of several methods available to identify the fungal symbiont, that of linking the sporocarp to underlying mycorrhizae by rigidly comparing respective mycelia are deemed best and easiest. An important advantage is that this method is applicable to mycorrhizae whose fungi cannot yet be grown on labroratory media. Its use, however, is limited by sporocarp production.
Keywords: Ectomycorrhizae- relationship- nitrogen fixation
|
|---|