INOCULATION OF WHITE CLOVER AND RYEGRASS SEED WITH MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI

S ummary Seeds of white clover and ryegrass were pelleted with soil heavily infested with the indigenous mycorrhizal fungi or efficient strains of Glomus tenuis and Gigaspora margarita and laid out on unsterilized pasture soils. Ryegrass plants inoculated with Glomus tenuis produced up to 48% more shoot growth than plants infected with the indigenous mycorrhizal fungi in Dunmore soil in glasshouse conditions. Similar inoculation of clover increased shoot growth by up to 91 % in Te Kuiti soil in the glasshouse and 37% in the field. Inoculation of clover with Gigaspora margarita increased dry matter of shoots by 79 % in Te Kuiti soil in the field.