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The effect of VA endomycorrhizae on the growth of lettuce and pepper transplants

Both lettuce and pepper crops are routinely grown as transplants in Quebec. Previous research has shown that both of these plants respond well to endomycorrhizae with a resulting improvement in plant growth and yield. Although many studies have been conducted on endomycorrhizal inoculation of transplants most were looking at the end result, i.e. yields, and did not focus on changes occurring at the transplant stage. This series of experiments was conducted to look at the effect of inoculation at the transplant stage. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv. Parris Island Cos) and pepper (Capsicum annuum cv. Hybrid Bell Boy) were inoculated with Glomus intraradix Schenck & Smith and Glomus versiforme (Karst.) Berch. Experiments involved testing the effect of different growing media, different container volumes and different light sources on the growth of endomycorrhizal lettuce and pepper transplants. In all experiments the amount of growth enhancement due to endomycorrhizal inoculation was low or negligible. Colonization rates were generally low, probably due to low light levels. Transplants grown in larger volume containers were generally larger than those grown in smaller containers. The transplants grown in the soil and compost based media were larger than those transplants grown in the artificial media. Growth of lettuce and pepper transplants was affected differently depending on the light source used. Some interactions between the light source and the endomycorrhizal treatments was observed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.23949
Date January 1995
CreatorsWatson, Ray A.
ContributorsStewart, K. A. (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Science (Department of Plant Science.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001506052, proquestno: MM12290, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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