Improved Growth of Onion and Bell Pepper in Saline Soils by Two Vesicular‐Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi

Abstract The effect of 5 levels of salinity on the growth of onions ( Allium cepa L. cv. ‘Early Yellow Globe’) and bell peppers ( Capsicum annuum L. cv. ‘California Wonder’) inoculated with the mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus fasciculatus or Gigaspora margarita , was compared to uninoculated nonmycorrhizal controls. In soils with saturation extracts (ECe) of 1, 3, 4, 6, and 12 mmho/cm, mycorrhizal plants consistently outweighed the controls. Plants inoculated with Gl. fasciculatus , also, grew larger than those inoculated with Gi. margarita . In both onion and bell pepper, the effect of salinity on decreasing percent fresh weight was greatest in the nonmycorrhizal controls. Also, in bell pepper, decreases in percent fresh weights were less with plants infected by Gl. fasciculatus than with those infected by Gi. margarita . Thus, plants infected with mycorrhizal fungi may be more salt tolerant than uninfected nonmycorrhizal plants.