Mycorrhizae or Mycorrcrazy?

Abstract

Mycorrhizal fungi are known for a positive effect on plants overall growth, we wanted to see if commercialized mycorrhizae would be an improvement. We studied two species of prairie plants to test the effects of wild vs commercially-produced mycorrhizae, and presence of both, on several plant traits (chlorophyll content, leaf number and biomass). We used live soil that was collected locally with mycorrhizae present, sterilized soil, and a commercially bought mycorrhizae inoculum from Sustainable Agricultural Technologies (SAT), that claims to reduce “drought stress, water and fertilizer needs,” along with increasing “flowering and fruiting, water and nutrient storage and uptake, and root growth.” We divided 24 plants into four treatments, with six plants of each species in each treatment:  live soil with inoculum, live soil without inoculum, sterile soil with inoculum, and sterile soil without inoculum. We used a Two-way ANOVA to compare the data collected and concluded with no significant figures. We noticed that effects vary with plant species, Desmodium canadense had increased chlorophyll, while Salvia azurea doubled its biomass.