Long-term preservation by L-drying and storage of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Viability of the spores and hyphae of seven species of vesicular arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizal fungi was preserved for eight years by the storage of dry propagules at a vacuum of 1.3 × 10⁻⁶ MPa. Preservation was measured by the ability of spores to germinate, or vegetative hyphae to regrow, and by the capacity of propagules to colonize plants and reproduce.

Anatomical and morphological characteristics of each species were unchanged when grown in association with subterranean clover, indicating that the genotypes had been preserved. Spores of Acaulospora laevis, A. trappei, Glomus monosporum, G. caledonium and Scutellospora calospora, dry hyphae of G. tenue, G. monosporum, G. fasciculatum and S. calospora, and mother-cells of A. laevis were suitable propagules for the long-term preservation of these fungi. The method is simple, inexpensive and suitable for the routine preservation of a range of VA fungi.