A technique for growing mycorrhizal clover in solution culture

Abstract

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) grown in aerated solution culture readily formed endomycorrhizas with Gigaspora margarita when the solution phosphate concentration was 1 μm H₂P0₄ ^-. The plants were grown in pockets of sand on wire mesh, supported by a polystyrene raft floating on the culture solution. Germinated seed was sown in the sand and inoculated with Gigaspora spores. The clover roots grew down into the solution, followed by the fungal hyphae. Mycorrhizas formed in the solution had internal structures identical with those formed in soil, and extensive external mycelia.

Keywords:

• mycorrhizas
• white clover
• nutrient solutions
• culture methods
• Endogonaceae
• Gigaspora margarita
• Trifolium repens
• Leguminosae