Field microplot performance of the peach-almond hybrid GF-677 after inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a replant soil infested with root-knot nematodes

The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) on the development and nutrition of the peach almond hybrid GF-677 rootstock in a replant soil heavily infe sted with Meloidogyne javanica were evaluated in field microplot conditions for two growing seasons. There was a significant beneficial effect of myco rrhizal inoculation on plant growth and nutrition in previously pasteurized replant soil. In natural replant soil, early inoculation with a mixed AM i noculum of Glomus intraradices, Glomus mosseae and Glomus etunicatum did no t affect growth parameters. Whilst inoculation with these AM fungi led to s uppression of root-knot nematode reproduction, natural mycorrhizal coloniza tion of the replant soil with native AM fungi did not.