Studies on mycorrhizal inoculation on dry matter yield and root colonization of some medicinal plants grown in stress and forest soils.

Five medicinal plants viz. Abelmoschatus moschatus Linn., Clitoria ternatea L., Plumbago zeylanica L., Psorolea corylifolia L. and Withania sominifera L. were grown in a polypot experiment in five soils representing coal mine soil, copper mine soil, fly ash, skeletal soil and forest soil with and without mycorrhizal inoculations in a completely randomized block design. Dry matter yield and mycorrhizal root colonization of plants varied both in uninoculated and inoculated conditions. The forest soil rendered highest dry matter due to higher yield of A. moschatus, P. zeylanica and P. corylifolia while fly ash showed lowest dry matter without any inoculants. P. cernatea were best in coal mine soil and W. sominifera in copper mine soil without mycorrhizal inoculation. The mycorrhiza was found to enhance the dry matter yield. This contributed minimum 0.19% to maximum up to 422.0% in different soils as compared to uninoculated plants. The mycorrhizal dependency was noticed maximum in plants grown in fly ash followed by coal mine soil, copper mine soil, skeletal soil and forest soil. The mycorrhizal response was increased maximum in W. sominifera due to survival in fly ash after inoculation followed by P. corylifolia and P. cernatea. Percent root colonization in inoculated plant was increased minimum of 1.10 fold to maximum of 12.0 folds in comparison to un-inoculated plants .The native mycorrhiza fungi were also observed to colonize 4.0 to 32.0% roots in plants under study. This study suggests that mycorrhizal inoculation increased the dry matter yield of medicinal plants in all soils under study. It also helps in survival of W. sominifera in fly ash.