KETERGANTUNGAN BEBERAPA KULTIVAR JAGUNG TERHADAP BENEFICIAL SOIL FUNGI

Growth and harvest result of plants are closely affected by symbiotic relationship of the plant itself and its beneficial soil fungi, which include arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM). One of many determining factors for growth improvement level is genetic traits of the host plant. This research is proposed to observe degrees of dependency of some cultivars of maize to its beneficial soil fungi, and its correlation to root fractal dimension, physiological performance, and diversity of endophytic fungi including AM. Six maize cultivars that used in this research are �Unyil Super�, �Unyil Kuning�, �Bima�, �Srikandi�, �Lamuru�, and �Bisma�. Dependency level of plant to beneficial soil fungi (BSFD) is calculated using subtraction of dry weight of plant with non-fumigated soil with the one which soil has fumigated and divide by the dry weight of plant with non-fumigated soil. Observed characteristics in this research are: (1) Plant dry weight, (2) Root fungal infection using tryphan blue, (3) Root fractal dimension, (4) Physiological performance with Licor�s instrument, and (5) Endophytic fungi diversity with ARISA method using primer ITS1-ITS2 and AM diversity with T-RFLP method using primer AML1-AML2. Results shown BSFD level of six cultivars are categorized as medium (11-29%) with low to high gradient are �Unyil Super�, �Unyil Kuning�, �Bima�, �Srikandi�, �Lamuru�, and ��Bisma��. Level of BSFD is significantly showing positive correlations to infection, root fractal dimension, and photosynthesis rate. Diversity of endophytic fungi and AM are grouped following different BSFD level on each plant cultivars. Identified genera of arbuscular mychorrhiza are Acaulospora sp., Glomus sp., Gigaspora sp., and Scutellospora sp. In maize cultivars with high BSFD are indicating that Glomus sp. are dominant fungi, while in low BSFD Gigaspora sp. is the dominant one