Trade with beneficial mycorrhizal fungi in Europe: suitable quality management avoids distribution of unwanted organisms in mycorrhizal inoculum.

Mycorrhiza is the most important mutual symbiosis between plant roots and soil borne fungi. An established symbiosis in the plant roots guarantees the adaptation even under unsuitable soil or climate conditions. The advantages have lead to an increasing demand for mycorrhiza products in the last years in Europe. As a consequence, large amounts of mycorrhizal inoculum are transported through the “borderless” Europe and are even imported from North and South America, and Asia. Because international regulations on the trade with beneficial microorganisms are failing, serious producers of mycorrhizal inoculum founded national and international organizations who are recently voluntarily working out quality control procedures to avoid the spread of unwanted organisms accompanying mycorrhizal inoculum.