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COLORIMETRIC QUANTIFICATION OF VESICULAR‐ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL INFECTION IN ONION
Author(s) -
BECKER W. N.,
GERDEMANN J. W.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1977.tb04832.x
Subject(s) - glomus , biology , inoculation , botany , shoot , staining , horticulture , genetics
SUMMARY A colorimetric method of estimating vesicular‐arbuscular mycorrhizal infection was developed and tested using onions inoculated with Glomus fasciculatus. Absorbances at 400 nanometers of water extracts from a series of mixtures of yellow (mycorrhizal) and white (nonmycorrhizal) roots had significant correlation with the percent yellow roots by weight in the mixtures. The percentage of mycorrhizal infection determined by a chitin assay or by a staining method was significantly correlated with the percentage of yellow roots by weight. The percentage of mycorrhizal infection determined by the colorimetric method was also significantly correlated with root/shoot ratios. The colorimetric method is offered as an alternative to the more time consuming quantitative methods of estimating the extent of vesicular‐arbuscular mycorrhizal infection now in use.