Effect of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhiza on Kudzu ( Pueraria phaseoloides ) Growth in Phosphate Fixing Kenya Soils

A green house experiment was conducted on nine non-sterilized soils with different P sorption capacities, to test the effect of mycorrhiza Glomus manihotis on growth of Kudzu ( Pueraria phaseoloides ). A basal application of fertilizer P based on the amount of P required to establish 0.1 µg P ml-1 equilibrium soil solution concentration was applied before inoculation with G. manihotis. Plant dry matter yield and P uptake were positive in four soils and negative in the rest except two which had no significant differences. Root infection increased significantly in all but one soil. There was no relationship between these parameters and the soil P fixation index. The responses observed were probably related to the effectiveness of the indigenous VAM fungi populations in the soils