The Effect of Commercial & Wild Mychorrizae of C4 Grasses

Abstract

The main questions in this study that will be addressed include: What the effects of commercially available mycorrhizae for plant biomass comprise, how commercial mycorrhizae compares with wild mycorrhizae in terms of plant biomass growth, and if commercial and wild mycorrhizae actually interact to influence plant biomass. The effects and interactions between commercial and wild mycorrhizae on plant biomass contribute to future knowledge for increasing plant growth. We plan to study whether commercial or wild mycorrhizal fungi greater influences plant biomass in order to determine the best possible growing conditions for Sorghastrum nutans and Sorghum bicolor, two species of C4 grasses. We experimented with four different treatment groups and 48 plants (24 from each species and six in each treatment group): 1. The control group, commercial mycorrhizal inoculum present with non-sterilized prairie soil (LI), 2. Commercial mycorrhizal inoculum present with sterilized prairie soil (SI), 3. Commercial mycorrhizal inoculum absent with non-sterilized prairie soil (LN), and 4. Commercial mycorrhizal inoculum absent with sterilized prairie soil (SN). We hypothesize that sterile soil that is inoculated with commercial mycorrhizal fungi (SI) will show the greatest increase in the overall plant biomass due to the fact that the soil does not already have living mychorriza that could potentially compete with the commercial mychorriza, and our hypothesis was supported in this experiment.