Application of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) in Orchard and Ornamental Plants

Technology has brought a great increase in world agricultural production in the last decades, by improving productivity and by making possible the incorporation of areas until then considered marginal. These benefits have essentially come from the increase in the quantity of grains, oilseeds and feeds for animal production. However, in the last years, urbanization and changes in eating habits have caused a shift towards the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. This has been followed by a growing commercialization of ornamental plants. These products come from a labour- and capital-intensive activity, where chemical input plays an essential role, but also brings up a set of problems linked with the degradation of the natural environment and resource base. The aim of this chapter is to present new developments in the potential use of biological tools such as the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which should ensure adequate levels of food production with a satisfactory reduction of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, in the context of the technologies needed for sustainable agriculture. The potential of AMF as biofertilizers and bioprotectors to enhance crop production is well recognized, but not well exploited because of the current agronomic practices, with their implications for the environment. In order to clarify some of these points, we will first briefly review some aspects of arbuscular mycorrhiza biology, ecology, and the methods used to study them. Readers can refer to other sections of this volume, where many of these topics are more extensively discussed.