Arbuscular mycorrhizal root colonization of two species from the genus Plantago

Abstract

The percentage of arbuscular mycorrhizal root colonization was assessed for two species of Plantago: Plantago lanceolata and Plantago major, sampled from different locations. Ten samples were analyzed for each species by using the Trypan Blue staining technique. The study was intended to estimate the level of arbusculat mycorrhizal colonization (AM) of the two species of Plantago and compare the results obtained. The percentage of mycorrhizal colonization was on an average of 27.74% for Plantago major and 40.17% for Plantago lanceolata, the difference between the two species being of 12.43%. Trypan Blue staining provided a good contrast, fine mycorrhizal structures (hyphae and arbuscules) being emphasized on the microscope. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that the means are significant for data distributions in the two species of Plantago. Kurtosis indicator had different values, the average distribution of the species being platikurtic for Plantago lanceolata (low variability in the data string) and leptokurtic for Plantago major (high variability).