Edge of Fields Mycorrhizal Banks

"Mycorrhizal Banks to Enhance Vegetable Yield and Reduce Water Quality Impairment by Mitigating Excessive Soil Phosphorus."

To the right are photos from 2022 field season: field research design, edge of field bank, , grown out field bank edges with radish strips to separate plots, covercrop field banks inoculated & uninoculated before scything with a radish strip, after covercrops were scythed and parsley planted, Greenhouse Inoculum growing design, Luca setting up pot cultures, week 2 pot culture growth, mycorrhizal root dying for colonization analysis, wild , & mycorrhizal spores we were able to extract from the soil & an arbuscule under 10x microscope lens.

Objectives of Year 1 study were to:

Determine if wild inoculum from nearby wild buffers can improve phosphorus uptake in parsley planted in polyculture covercrop
Discern if mycorrhizal communities differ between the N (mostly herbaceous plants & shrubs) & S (mostly trees & garlic mustard) wild buffers in phosphorus transfer & in mycorrhizal populations
Develop accessible protocols for farmers to grow viable wild mycorrhizal inoculum, endemic to their field edges

Donations welcome here. Thanks!

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"Mycorrhizal Banks to Enhance Vegetable Yield and Reduce Water Quality Impairment by Mitigating Excessive Soil Phosphorus."