Contribution of native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the stablishment ofAristida setifolia Kunth in degraded areas in the cerrado

To study the dynamics of native AM fungi, in natural cerrado soil and three degraded areas, quantitative and qualitative avaliations were done, in the dry and rainy seasons. Those avaliations included field experiment plots f rom a degraded area with lime, natural peat and castor bean cake. Two green house experiments studied the contribution of AM fungi to the stablishment of a spontaneous grass Aristida setifolia Kunth. The first used natural and steam sterilized substrates from the four areas; the second, field plots s ubstrates steam sterilized with and without inoculation of three native AM fungi. In the field, soil density was higher in degraded areas and both are as presented high soil acidity. The AM fungi were present in all areas with higher number of spores and species in the rainy season. In the greenhouse experiments, native AM fungi promoted a significant increase in plant shoo t dry matter. In the noninoculated field plots substrates, there was no sig nificant effect of lime and organic compounds on plant growth. However, wit h the inoculation, there was a significant increase in grass shoot dry matt er, with a significant improvement and differentiation of the field treatme nts effects.