V. Estaun et al., AM INOCULATION AS A BIOLOGICAL TOOL TO IMPROVE PLANT REVEGETATION OF A DISTURBED SOIL WITH ROSMARINUS-OFFICINALIS UNDER SEMIARID CONDITIONS, Agriculture, ecosystems & environment. Applied soil ecology, 6(3), 1997, pp. 223-229
Rosmarinus officinalis L., is an evergreen sclerophyllous mediterranea
n shrub that can be used for revegetation purposes under semi-arid con
ditions. Plants, some of which had been inoculated with the arbuscular
mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices Schenck & Smith, were gro
wn on eroded topsoil collected from a sideslope of a recently construc
ted motorway. The effects of the symbiosis on plant growth and soil co
verage and the development of the number of AM propagules in the soil
were studied to assess the usefulness of AM inoculation as a cultural
practice to ensure successful establishment of plants in eroded soils.
Results showed that AM inoculation could have a positive effect on th
e revegetation process. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.