Genotypic variation of tomato to AMF inoculation in improving growth, nutrient uptake, yield, and photosynthetic activity

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) promote water and mineral nutrients uptake by plant roots, which can reduce the chemical fertilizer inputs in crop production. To gain better insight into the comparative effect of different strains of AMF in improving tomato performance at morphological and physiological levels, seedlings of two tomato cultivars (i.e., Better Boy and Roma) were inoculated with four strains of Glomus mosseae (i.e., HS 1–2, BEG 12, BEG 55, and BEG 54) under greenhouse conditions. Results showed that tomato growth and yield varied largely depending on the mycorrhizal strain and tomato cultivar, with wide variations in root colonization ranging from 5.30 to 78.63%. Overall, mycorrhization with BEG 54 showed significantly better tomato performance when compared to the BEG 55, HS 1–2 and BEG 12 strains. In the case of cultivars, Better Boy performed better than Roma cultivar in terms of growth, physiological traits, yield, and fruit quality. The highest plant height, dry matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, AMF colonization, yield, fruit juice, ascorbic acid, and titratable acidity contents were recorded in Better Boy cultivar while the highest stem diameter was found in Roma cultivar. Taken together, AMF colonization suggested a promising approach for large-scale tomato production by efficient absorption and utilization of nutrients, and encouraging plants’ symbiotic relationships with soil microorganisms.