EFFECT OF A COMPOSITE ENDOMYCORRHIZAL INOCULUM ON THE GROWTH OF SAFFRON PLANTS (Crocus sativus L.) AND THE MULTIPLICATION OF CORMS

Composite endomycorrhizal inocula originating from plots of saffron crops of different durations of exploitation (2, 4, 6 and 10 years) were used to inoculate substrates intended to receive saffron corms (bulbs). Four weeks after inoculation, the length of the aerial part (27 cm), the fresh weight of the aerial part (1.36 g), the fresh weight of the root part (0.82 g), the number of leaves (8.6) and the number of bulbs (3) in mycorrhizal saffron plants were higher than in non-mycorrhizal inoculated plants (18.6 cm, 0.25 g, 0.16 g, 3.6 and 1, respectively). A significant improvement in these parameters is noted in the plants grown from the bulbs grown on substrates inoculated with 2 inocula originating from the saffron cultures aged 4 and 6 years (7.25 and 8.6 cm, 1.35 and 1.32 g, 0.74 and 0.82 g; 2.2, respectively). These two inocula showed high activity in the rhizosphere of saffron plants, 16 endomycorrhizal species belonging to the genera Glomus, Acaulospora, Scutellospora, Gigaspora, Pacispora and Entrophospora, sporulated mycorrhizal plants in the rhizosphere with the inoculum of plots of 4 farms and 13 species belonging to the genera Glomus, Acaulospora, Pacispora and Scutellospora, sporulated rhizospheric soil with mycorrhizal plants with the inoculum from plots that were exploited for 6 years. The results of this study have shown that it is possible to improve the agronomic parameters of the plants and to stimulate the multiplication of the bulbs, base of the improvement of the saffron culture, by the contribution of inocula based of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.