Inoculation with Glomus mosseae : An Efficient Biological Management Strategy for Arsenic Mitigation in Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Under Arsenic-Contaminated Soil

ABSTRACTA pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on mitigation of arsenic (As) in As-contaminated soils with wheat (variety – HD 2967) as the test crop. Soil inbulk was collected from Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bihar,India farm with physicochemicalproperties to conduct a pot experiment using three doses of As (5, 10, 20 mg L−1) and application of Glomus mossaea inoculation (no inoculated, 5 g/pot, and 10 g/pot). Result indicated that the treatment spiked with As 5 ppm and Glomus mossaea @1 g kg−1 showedthe lowest available As (21.80 µg kg−1 soil) and lowest total As (2.533 mg kg−1soil) as compared to all othertreatments. The As content in different parts of plants are found in the orderof roots > shoots> leaves > grain parts in wheat crop. As uptake in grain was found to be positively correlated with available (r = 0.883, p < .001) and total As content in soil (r = 0.869, p < .001) as well. The application of AM fungi @10.0 g kg−1 soil significantly (p < .005) reduced the As content in grain under all the applied treatments. As content ingrain was found to be negatively correlated with total glomalin content of soil(r = –0.430, p < .005), colonization by AM fungi (r = –0.261) and available phosphorus (P) content of soil (r = –0.864, p < .001). The study noticeably indicated that the mycorrhizal inoculation can reduce the As content in the various parts of the wheat in As-contaminated soils.KEYWORDS: Arsenicglomalinglomusmycorrhizawheat AcknowledgementsThe study was supported by the Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bihar, India. Authors are grateful to the Vice-Chancellor and Director of Research, BAU, Sabour for their critical suggestions and support for carrying out this valuable research.Disclosure statementNo conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThe data and results presented in the manuscript were generated from a research project (Code: SP/NRM/Kharif/2018-05) funded by the University i.e. Bihar Agricultural University, Bihar, India.