Nursery inoculation of sea oats with vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and outplanting performance on Florida beaches

Seedlings of Uniola paniculata were inoculated with a mixture of Glomus deserticola and G. macrocarpum or were not inoculated with the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi. Moderate levels of colonization were achieved, even when inoculum was mixed with the growth medium at a dilution rate of 1:64. At Anastasia State Recreation Area (ASRA), sea oats inoculated with VAM fungi at the time of planting had greater root growth than noninoculated seedings after 2 mo; but losses during winter storms precluded further evaluation. At Miami Beach, VAM fungus-colonized sea oats obtained from a nursery study had 219, 81, 64 and 53% greater shoot dry mass, root length, plant height, and number of tillers, respectively, compared to sea oats that came from the same nursery without VAM fungi. In a greenhouse study, sea oats without added P were more dependent on VAM fungi in Miami Beach than in ASRA sand. -from Author