Morphological and Structural Characterization of Rhizospheric Endomycorrhiza Communities Associated with Rice Grown in the Sahelian Zone (Chad)

Abstract

In Chad, rice is grown for its starchy seeds or caryopses, but is also for consumption in the form of seeds pasta with soup. However, little or no work has been conducted in Chad to assess the composition of endomycorrhiza community inhabiting the plant rice rhizospheres. Hence, the main objective of this study was to investigate on native endomycorrhiza that are efficient to establish a symbiotic relationship with two rice varieties in the Sahelian zone in Chad. Two rice varieties were grown in a pot experiment on composite soils samples from Laï, Kelo, Kolobo and N’Djamena for 3 months. Parameters such as mycorrhizal frequency, intensity, specific density and richness were determined following to the standard methods. After spore extraction, species description and characterization were obtained through the informations provided by the International Vesicular Mycorrhizal fungi collection (INVAM): http://invam.caf.wv.edu/fungi/taxonomy/species ID.htm. The highest specific endomycorrhizal density (97.3%) and richness (11%) were registered respectively at kelo, Laï and Kolobo. The endomycorrhizal frequency and intensity were respectively between 4.33-7.33% and 0.8-2.9% for the two rice varieties. Eleven endomycorrhiza species belonging to six genera were identified from different soil samples. These include Septoglomus (S. constrictum, S. deserticola); Rhizophagus (R. aggregatus, R. fasciculatus, R. intraradices); Acaulospora (A. lacunosa, A. rugosa, A. trappei); Claroideoglomus lamellosum; Glomus pansihalos and Diversispora epigae. S. constrictum was the most dominant and frequent species found in all the soil sampling sites, while R. aggregatus was the less frequently encountered specimen. The lowest macorrhizal richness and frequency obtained is a proof that cultivation of rice dependent on endomycorrhiza in this zone. The multi-native endomycorhiza spores identified are the active principle to be included in the bioinoculants production in order to increase and improve the production of rice in the south of Chad.