EFFECTS OF ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI, PHOSPHOBACTERIUM AND AZOSPIRILLUM SP. ON THE SUCCESSFUL ESTABLISHMENT OF EUCALYPTUS CAMALDULENSIS DEHN. IN BAUXITE MINE SPOILS

ABSTRACT Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn seedlings were inoculated with the cultured arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi Glomus aggregatum Schenck & Smith emend. Koske, and the beneficial microbes Phosphobacterium and Azospirillum sp. individually and in combinations in the nursery. Mined out wastes of bauxite, called bauxite mine spoils, were collected and used as a potting medium to grow E. camaldulensis seedlings for three months in the nursery. The AM fungal and other beneficial microbial inoculations improved the seedling quality in terms of total biomass and growth. The seedlings were transplanted on to bauxite mine spoils and the growth and survival of seedlings were monitored for two years. In these field conditions, the inoculated seedlings of E. camaldulensis showed 95% survival and significantly higher growth than the control seedlings. From this study it was deduced that E. camaldulensis inoculated with beneficial microbes is a suitable tree species for the rehabilitation of bauxite mine spoils, a...