Diversity and Abundance of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Under Different Plant and Soil Properties in Sidama, Southern Ethiopia
Abstract: In Sidama, agroforestry represents land-use systems with deliberate management of multipurpose trees and shrubs that grow in intimate association with annual and perennial agricultural crops and/or livestock. The interaction of microbiota with the trees, shrubs and crops make the system fertile, productive and sustainable. One of the beneficial microbiota which has symbiotic association with most of the plants in agroforestry is arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). In November and December of 2012, root and rhizosphere soil samples of 21 plant species from nine peasant associations (PAs)(villages within districts where 300-500 families live) were collected from the agroforestry practices in Sidama of Southern Ethiopia for the determination of diversity and abundance of AMF under selected soil parameters and plant species density. Findings on the diversity of AMF based on soil properties showed that at moderate to low P and N concentrations the rate of AMF root colonization