Alleviation of drought effect on two mycorrhizal leguminous plants (Tephrosia vogelii and Vigna subterranea) at an early growth phase

This experiment was conducted to evaluate tolerance of mycorrhizal or unmycorrhizal T. vogelii and V. subterranea subjected to drought stress at early growth phase, in a randomized blocks design; on sterilized substrate; with a mixture of selected fungi (AMF): Gigaspora margarita, Glomus hoi, Glomus intraradices and Scutellospora gregaria. Levels of drought stress were 90, 60, 30 and 15% of field capacity (FC) for control, mild, average and severe stress respectively with or without inoculation. Results indicated that mycorhization performed positive effect with r = 0.484 ** and r = 0.690 ** for T. vogelii and V. subterranea respectively on improvement of plants biomass of T. vogelii and V. subterranea. This increment was 3 % significant for T. vogelii at 90% of FC; 40, 22, 26 and 21 % for V. subterranea, for: 90, 60, 30 and 15% of FC respectively. Beside, results proved that mycorhization impaired the adverse effects of drought on growth at an early growth phase as compared to nonmycorrhizal plants. Inoculum used would be a useful, practical and effective material, for sustainable production of leguminous plants, especially herbaceous (V. subterranea) when water is scare or rainfall weak.