Functional Diversity of Mycorrhiza and Sustainable Agriculture

Functional Diversity of Mycorrhiza and Sustainable Agriculture is the first book to present the core concepts of working with Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to improve agricultural crop productivity.

Highlighting the use of indigenous AM fungi for agriculture, the book includes details on how to maintain and promote AM fungal diversity to improve sustainability and cost-effectiveness. As the need to improve production while restricting scarce inputs and preventing environmental impacts increases, the use of AMF offers an important option for exploiting the soil microbial population. It can enhance nutrient cycling and minimize the impacts of biotic and abiotic stresses, such as soil-borne disease, drought, and metal toxicity.

The book offers land managers, policymakers, soil scientists, and agronomists a novel approach to utilizing soil microbiology in improving agricultural practices.

• Provides a new approach to exploiting the benefits of mycorrhizas for sustainable arable agricultural production using indigenous AMF populations and adopting appropriate crop production techniques
• Bridges the gap between soil microbiology, including increasing knowledge of mycorrhiza and agronomy
• Presents real-world practical insights and application-based results, including a chapter focused primarily on case studies
• Includes extensive illustrative diagrams and photographs

Land managers, consultants, policy makers and university students in agriculture, soil and environmental science, botany or horticulture looking to develop and foster sustainable plant production. Students can gain an understanding of the science underpinning the growth and development of indigenous mycorrhizas and biodiversity

1. Introduction
2. Agronomic opportunities to modify soil conditions considered supportive of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
3. The roles of mycorrhizas and current constraints to their intentional use in agriculture
4. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AFM) biodiversity
5. Interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and other soil microbes in the rhizosphere and impacts on host plants
6. The significance of the intact extraradical mycelium (ERM) in managing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
7. New tools to investigate biological diversity
8. Management of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi biological diversity within crooping systems