Mycorrhizal Biotechnology

Contents: Preface. 1. Arbuscular mycorrhiza and soil microbes/Mohammad Miransari. 2. Ectomycorrhizae and forest plants fitness/L. Montecchio and L. Scattolin. 3. Role of VAM in nutrient uptake of crop plants/V. Davamani, A.C. Lourduraj, R.P. Yogalakshmi and M. Velmurugan. 4. Advances in mass production technology of arbuscular mycorrhiza/A. Khaliq, D.J. Bagyaraj and M. Alam. 5. Biomass production, arbuscular mycorrhizae and soil plant available P under water stress in native perennial grasses/C.A. Busso and A.I. Bolletta. 6. Induced resistance in plants and the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi/Y. Ismail and M. Hijri. 7. Influence of VAM in bioremediation of environmental pollutants/V. Davamani, A.C. Lourduraj and M. Velmurugan. 8. Rhizosphere management practices in sustaining mycorrhizae/C. Harisudan, M. Velmurugan and P. Hemalatha. 9. Importance of mycorrhizae for horticultural crops/P. Hemalatha, M. Velmurugan, C. Harisudan and V. Davamani. 10. Mycobization as a biotechnological tool: a challenge/M.S. Velazquez and M.N. Cabello. 11. Phytoremediation: biotechnological procedures involving plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi/S.E. Hassan, M. St-Arnaud, M. Labreque and M. Hijri. 12. Molecular characterization of genetic diversity among arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi/M. Velmurugan, P. Hemalatha, C. Harisudan and D. Thangadurai. 13. Molecular tools for biodiversity and phylogenetic studies in mycorrhizas: the use of primers to detect arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi/Fernanda Covaceivich. 14. The impact of climate changes on belowground: how the CO2 increment affects arbuscular mycorrhiza/Fernanda Covacevich and Ricardo Luis Louro Berbara. Index.

"To meet the demands of rapidly increasing population with limited land, agricultural production has been raised through the use of inorganic fertilizers, multicropping systems and chemical pesticides which had deleterious effects on the terrestrial and below ground biodiversity in the past several decades. In this scenario, mycorrhizae are being increasingly recognized as a potential system that is able to alter the functional ecology of all land plants and they increase nutrient uptake, biocontrol pathogenic fungi and nematodes and establish plant communities. As the impact of recently evolved molecular technologies is expected to promote sustainable agricultural productivity, this book lays strong emphasis on the biotechnology of mycorrhizae and contains novel information written by leading experts in the field.

Mycorrhizal biotechnology is thus an invaluable source of reference for students, researchers and practitioners of mycorrhizal research in universities and governmental agencies."