Changes in the diversity of soil arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi after cultivation for biofuel production in a Guantanamo (Cuba) tropical system.

ABSTRACT: The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are a key, integral component of the stability, sustainability and functioning of ecosystems. In this study, we characterised the AMF biodiversity in a native vegetation soil and in a soil cultivated with Jatropha curcas or Ricinus communis, in a tropical system in Guantanamo (Cuba), in order to verify if a change of land use to biofuel plant production had any effect on the AMF communities. We also asses whether some soil properties related with the soil fertility (total N, Organic C, microbial biomass C, aggregate stability percentage, pH and electrical conductivity) were changed with the cultivation of both crop species. The AM fungal small sub-unit (SSU) rRNA genes were subjected to PCR, cloning, sequencing and phylogenetic analyses. Twenty AM fun

SUBMITTER: Alguacil Mdel M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3334937 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature