Growth stimulation of seventeen fallow leguminous plants inoculated with Glomus aggregatum in Senegal

Tropical legumes from fallowed areas in Senegal were inoculated with a trop ical strain of Glomus aggregatum to test their relative mycorrhizal depende ncy in a greenhouse experiment. Twelve species among the seventeen tested s howed a significant growth increase when mycorrhizal. Their mycorrhizal dep endency varied from 92.7% for Indigofera stenophylla to 26.2% for Prosopis julifora. A significant positive correlation was found between mycorrhizal dependency and root hair length. The results confirm the high mycorrhizal d ependency of legumes which are economically very important in the restorati on of soil fertility of fallowed areas in the Sahelian and Soudano-Sahelian zones. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.