Glomales species associated with surface and deep rhizosphere of Faidherbia albida in Senegal

Five arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal species were isolated and propagate d from surface and deep rhizospheres of Faidherbia albida trees growing in two ecoclimatic zones of West Africa: the semi-arid Sahelian and the more h umid Sudano-Guinean areas. Of these species, Glomus aggregatum, Glomus cale donium, and Glomus mosseae were trapped by F. albida roots when cultivated with either surface or deep soils. Glomus fasciculatum was found exclusivel y at the semiarid Sahelian sites of Louga and Diokoul and Gigaspora margari ta was isolated only from 16.5-m and 34-m-deep samples. Comparable glomalea n fungal species richness was identified in deep (1.5-34 m) and surface (0. 15 m) samples. The isolation and the propagation of glomalean fungi from F. albida rhizospheres confirmed the presence of viable AM fungal propagules, down to the water table, as deep as 34 m.