Book Description

Many plants benefit greatly from symbiotic relationship with soil fungi known as mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi live on and in the root systems of plants and provide nutrients to the plant in exchange for carbohydrates exuded by the plants. Some of the ecological uses of mycorrhizae include (i) enchancing plant growth and disease resistance (ii) improving transplant success (iii) building soil structure (iv) reducing fertilizer dependency and (v) accelerating revegetation of degraded lands. While over 80 percent of the terrestrial plants show mycorrhizal association, the depth of its application towards industries seems to be under-exploited. Moreover, severe deforestation and land degradation have removed the host plants from the habitats giving way to loss of diversity of the mycorrhizal fungi. Particularly, this problem is acute in the tropical region of the world, where various naturals calamities such as floods, landslides, fire, etc in addition to the human exploitation of natural resources have degraded the major part of the ecosystems. Although, causes are known, Strategies to rebuild the degraded systems remain bliss. There are many national and international journals that bring out the information about the mycorrhizal fungi and their symbiotic relationship with plants but the recent knowledge is almost in scattered state. This scattered information could be kept in a book to provide up-to-date information about mycorrhizal research especially being done in different corner of India. This book is a very selective monograph on mycorrhizae covering its different aspects. It is excellent collection of 21 articles dealing with different disciplines of mycorrhizae and mycorrhizal research carried out by Indian scientists. In order to consummate the collective ideas on mycorrhizal association, its diversity and applications, a number of themes have been identified for this book, including (i) Biodiversity and Ecological issues on mycorrhizal association (ii) Physiology and molecular biology of plant-mycorrhizal fungal interactions (iii) Potential industrial applications. It is doubtless to say that this book would be very useful to all scientists, teachers, students and readers whosoever in interested on mycology and mycological literature. Contents Chapter 1: Rhizoendomutualmycota (REMM): A New Phylum for the Farmers Friend Number One by S P Gautam and U S Patel; Chapter 2: Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in India by V S Mehrotra; Chapter 3: Diversity and Integration in Mycorrhizas: Meaning to Plant Ecology by Subhendu Chaudhuri and Birendranath Panja; Chapter 4: Mycorrhizal Biotechnology for Increasing Growth and Productivity of Fruit Plants by Pradeep B Patil and Chaya P Patil; Chapter 5: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis: An Overview of Research and Extension Needs by Mukesh K Meghvansi, K K Chaudhary and Kamal Prasad; Chapter 6: Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae: Modern Research Trends and Future Prospects by Ashok Aggarwal, Vipin Parkash, R S Mehrotra, Anil Gupta and Sunits Kaushish; Chapter 7: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Under the Dynamics of Rhizosphere by Shruti Chaturvedi, Nisha Verma and A K Sharma; Chapter 8: Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungi Under the Dynamics of Rhizosphere by Shruti Chaturvedi, Nisha Verma and A K Sharma; Chapter 8: Arbuscular Mycorrhiza on Root-Organ Cultures by Nishi Mathur, Joginder Singh, Sachendra Bohra, Avinash Bohra and Anil Vyas; Chapter 9: Application of AM Technology for Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils by Harbans Kaur Kehri, Nidhi Sharma and Varun Khare; Chapter 10: Mycorrhizal Technology in Revegetation Practices in India Thar Desert by Nishi Mathur, Joginder Singh, Sachendra Bohra, Avinash Bohra and Anil Vyas; Chapter 11: Approaches to Utilize Native Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Association for Improving P Nutrition in Upland Rice Under Rainfed Ecosystem by D Maiti, M K Barnwal, R K Singh and S K Rana; Chapter 12: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Forest Tree Seedling Production by T Muthukumar and K Udaiyan; Chapter 13: Reclamation of Saline Soils through Arbuscular Mycorrhizae by Sudhir Chandra, Anshu Tiwari and H K Kehri; Chapter 14: Role of Mycorrhizal Association in Growth of Forest Trees by Lakshmi Tewari, Salil K Tewari and Rajesh Kaushal; Chapter 15: Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza in Artinorhizal Plants and their Management Implications by Kiran Bargali and S S Bargali; Chapter 16: Methods for Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Research by Purshotam Kaushik and Supriya Gaur; Chapter 17: Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in the Kaumaun Region of India Central Himalaya by Bhaskar Chaurasia, Anita Pandey and Lok Man S Palni; Chapter 18: Effect of AM Fungi on the Growth and Nutrition Uptake in Some Endemic Myristicaceae Members of the Western Ghats, India by P Rama Bhat and K M Kaveriappa; Chapter 19: Diversity of AM Fungi in Some Endemic Members of Myristicaceae of the Western Ghats, India by P Rama Bhat and K M Kaveriappa; Chapter 20: Role of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (Glomus aggregatum) Fungi on Plant Growth Promotion in Chickpea by Daljeet Singh and R S Singh; Chapter 21: Mycrorrhiza for Growth Enhancement and Pathogen Suppression in Black Pepper.