Initial growth and ecophysiological aspects of forest legumes inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi in areas degraded by mining

Crescimento inicial e aspectos ecofisiológicos de leguminosas florestais inoculadas com fungos micorrízicos em áreas degradadas por mineração

ABSTRACT

The objective of this work was to evaluate the growth in plant height, stem base diameter, survival rate, and ecophysiology of Acacia mangium and Mimosa caesalpiniifolia plants with and without inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Rhizophagus clarus) in areas degraded by mining in the municipality of Itaporanga D’Ajuda, SE, Brazil. The experiment was conducted with plants grown with spacing of 3 × 3 m in areas degraded by sand and gravel mining in Itaporanga D’Ajuda, using plants of the species Acacia mangium and Mimosa caesalpiniifolia. Four treatments were used: Acacia mangium without AMF; Mimosa caesalpiniifolia without AMF; Acacia mangium with AMF; Mimosa caesalpiniifolia with AMF. Plants from each treatment were evaluated for plant height, stem base diameter, survival rate and ecophysiological parameters at 12 months after planting. The forest legume Mimosa caesalpiniifolia inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi (Rhizophagus clarus) presented the best results in plant height, survival rate, and photosynthetic efficiency, at twelve months after planting. Plants in the treatment with Acacia mangium without inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi (Rhizophagus clarus) had the largest stem base diameters and second highest plant heights. However, the lowest survival rate of the plants may have caused overestimation of the results of stem base diameter and plant height.

Keywords
Ecological restoration; Forest seedlings; Rhizophagus clarus