Attributes of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi as Indicators of Degraded and Recovery Lands in Piauí State

Abstract

The study aims to evaluate attributes of mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) as total, viable and non-viable glomerospores, total glomalin and easily extractable glomalin; associate them with soil chemical properties to discriminate lands characterized by different levels of degradation as well as management soil recovery in Gilbués/PI. Soil chemical attributes were used as explanatory variables for the variability of AMF attributes via multivariate analysis. The treatments consisted of land under recovery (LUR); highly degraded land (HDL); moderately degraded land (MDL) and native forest (NF). The highest values of total glomerospores corresponded to LUR when compared to other areas in dry period at 10-20 cm depth. For 0-10 cm depth, the values of total glomerospores were equal to NF. The variables total glomalin, easily extractable glomalin, soil organic matter, pH and H+Al explained variability of data both in the dry and rainy period, due to their higher weights. Among the attributes related to the community of AMF, total and easily extractable glomalin showed their efficiency as monitor-indicators of soil quality in Gilbués/PI.