Control of soil organisms harmful to plants by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Konvencionalne kmetijske prakse se po svetu nadomeščajo z modernimi pristopi, katerih glavni cilj je povečanje pridelka. Zaradi tega se je znatno povečala uporaba mineralnih gnojil in fitofarmacevtskih sredstev, vendar pa prekomerna uporaba tovrstnih agrokemikalij zelo škoduje okolju in zdravju ljudi. Raziskovalci iščejo okolju prijazne pristope varstva rastlin, s katerimi bi lahko omejili uporabo fitofarmacevtskih sredstev. Že zelo dolgo je znano, da arbuskularno mikorizne glive (AM) pomagajo rastlinam z izboljšanjem mineralne prehrane in z varovanjem pred talnimi škodljivimi organizmi (ŠO). Da to dosežejo, so AM glive razvile različne varovalne mehanizme, kot so sprememba rasti in morfologije korenin, fiziološke in biokemične spremembe, tekmovanje za prostor in hranila in aktivacija sistemične odpornosti. Zaradi tega in številnih drugih pomembnih fukcij bi se lahko AM glive uporabljale v trajnostnem kmetijstvu kot sredstvo za zmanjšanje vnosa gnojil in za varstvo rastlin pred škodljivimi talnimi organizmi.Conventional agricultural practices are now being replaced world over with modern practices for higher crop yields. For the same reason, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has taken a big boost in agricultural sector. However, the excessive use of these synthetic chemicals is causing serious environmental and health threats. Therefore researchers are exploring environment-friendly approaches of plant protection that could minimize the side effects associated with the use of pesticides. It has been long known that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi help plants by supplying them with minerals and protecting them against soil pathogens and parasitic nematodes. To achive this, they use different protection mechanisms such as altered root morphology, physiological and biochemical changes, competition for space and nutrients and activation of systemical resistance. Because of this and many other important fuctions, AM fungi could be used in sustainable agriculture as biofertilizers and bioprotectants