FUNGOS MICORRÍZICOS ARBUSCULARES ASSOCIADOS COM PLANTAS DE MILHO: UMA ESTRATÉGIA BIOTECNOLÓGICA DURANTE A SECA

Abstract

Plants are subjected to various conditions and stresses, among these the water deficit stands out, as the main limiting factor in corn production that causes physiological, biochemical and molecular changes in plants. One of the alternatives for plants to be able to stand out from this stress is the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) which make symbiosis with plants, helping them to capture more nutrients and water, through a network of hyphae that are generated by the spores. Given the above, this work aimed to verify the physiological behavior of maize plants under water deficit, inoculated with AMF Rhizophagus clarus, Claroideoglomus etunicatum and the commercial inoculant Rootella BR®. Corn seeds were cultivated and individually inoculated with 90 g of R. clarus, with number of spores per gram of 1.2, or 30 g of C. etunicatum, with number of spores per gram of 3.6, and with the commercial inoculant Rootella, in the proportion of 120g per hectare. The difference in the amount of inoculants R. clarus and C. etunicatum was to equal the total number of spores per pot (108 spores). The plants were cultivated in a greenhouse and distributed in the treatments: 1) Corn without inoculant (control) with irrigation; 2) Corn without inoculation (control) without irrigation; 3) Irrigated corn irrigated + Rhizophagus clarus; 4) Corn with water deficit + Rhizophagus clarus; 5) Irrigated Corn + Claroideoglomus etunicatum and 6) corn + with water deficit + Claroideoglomus etunicatum; 7) Irrigated corn + Rootella and 8) corn with water deficit + Rootella. The plants were subjected to water deficit at stage V3, keeping the pots at 20% of CC, for 10 days, then the first analyzes were performed, after that they were re-irrigated for 2 days and the analyzes were performed again. The results showed that inoculated plants were able to recover in favorably way. These data demonstrate that the AMF not only help at the time of stress, but a collaboration can also come as an aid for plant recovery, after a new irrigation period. Thus, inoculation with AMF favors the plants in post-water stress recovery.