| dc.description.abstract | Blueberry culture in Chile has been expanding its acreage from suitable
edaphoclimatic conditions to environments in which some soil characteristics depart
from blueberries’ requirements, among others, to calcareous soils with pH over 7.5.
Under these conditions, specific technological field management is required to keep
plants producing fruits; however, little attention has been given to mycorrhizal
symbiosis. Several studies have been carried out since 2000 in order to assess the
importance of the mycorrhizal symbiosis for cultivated blueberry plants in
Mediterranean agroecosystems that do not have native Ericaceous plants. Survey of
the mycorrhizal status of commercial blueberry fields and directed inoculation
assays with commercial and native mycorrhizal inocula have been conducted. It was
observed that under these conditions, field blueberry plants form mycorrhizae with
native arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungi with a lower infection percentage. In
some samples, only arbuscular mycorrhizae were observed. Ericoid mycorrhizae
were present to a variable extent, probably as a consequence of contamination at the
nursery level. No differences in field plants performance were observed. However,
when blueberry plants growing in containers, are inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi
at the nursery, the symbiosis performs with different levels of efficiency, from
positive to negative when compared to non-inoculated plants, but having native
mycorrhizal fungi. In some experiments, ericoid mycorrhiza produced by
Hymenosyphus ericae had lower plants’ biomass (dwt) compared with native
mycorrhiza, but in others, they had the highest. The significance of the fungal
edaphic adaptation is discussed. | |
