This study aimed to evaluate the Australian red cedar seedlings for their ability to growth, nutrition
and production of phenolic compounds under arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation.
An experiment was carried out under greenhouse conditions, with three treatments consisting
of
Gigaspora margarita
,
Glomus etunicatum
,
Glomus clarum
in single inoculation, and four treatments
composed by the combination of these species,
Gigaspora margarita +
Glomus clarum,
Gigaspora
margarita +
Glomus etunicatum,
Glomus clarum +
Glomus etunicatum and
Gigaspora margarita +
Glomus
etunicatum +
Glomus clarum. All treatments with the fungal inoculum were evaluated without addition of
phosphorus in the substrate. In comparison, three treatment controls were used (without fungus) containing three levels of phosphorus: 0, 50 and 100 mg dm
-3, performing ten treatments. The experimental design was
in random blocks with five replicates. After 140 days of germination, it was observed that all species of
AMF inoculated alone or in combination, led to significant benefits on growth, nutrition and production of
phenolic compounds in Australian red cedar seedlings in soils containing low phosphorus availability. The
mixture in the soil of
Gigaspora margarita,
Glomus etunicatum and
Glomus clarum was able to provide
significant increases in plant growth in most parameters assessed, resulting in performance equivalent or
higher than non-mycorrhizal and control plants grown in soil fertilized with phosphorus. This suggests that
AMF can promote reduction in phosphorus addition during the production of Australian red cedar seedlings.
