NISKU Alta. – Mycorrhizae is a naturally occurring relationship between fungi and plant roots that scientists believe has existed for about 400 million years, and which colonizes 95 percent of all plant species.
The role of mycorrhizal fungi has always been to help plant roots gain better access to moisture and nutrients in the soil. One clue about the efficacy of mycorrhizal fungi is the rugged sustainability of native plants through all types of extreme conditions, compared to developed varieties.
That may be why fungi have disappeared in soils that have been cultivated for a number of years and planted to hybrid crops such as canola. The manmade species do not support the relationship.
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The disappearance of this important fungal relationship from cropland has forced farmers to use more commercial fertilizer and crop protection products, according to Michel Lachance of Premier Tech Biotechnologies.
Lachance said the Quebec based company has been working with the mycorrhizal relationship for more than 22 years.
The most notable result of its research to date has been the commercial release of a mycorrhizal product called Myke Pro. The GS2 form is a granular product for side dressing while Myke Pro PS3 is an inoculant for seed coating.
Although most of Premier Tech’s work so far has been with the horticulture and turf grass industries, Lachance said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recently approved the fungal product for all grasses.
“That means more than just golf courses and lawn turf,” said Lachance. “The CFIA registration means the product can be used on agricultural grasses such as grass for grazing and grass-based field crops.”
Premier Tech does not yet have field performance data on the full range of field crops, but it knows that its production line fungus is compatible with wheat, barley, oats, corn, sorghum, rye, triticale, sunflower, peas, lentils, beans, alfalfa, clover and flax.
In one of the company’s few field scale trials so far, a fungus-treated flax field in North Dakota showed a 27 percent increase over the nontreated portions. The treated portion of the field showed a 5.4 bushel benefit.
On the other side of the coin, there are a number of crops that Premier Tech knows are not compatible with Myke Pro including spinach, beets, canola, turnips, radish and mustard.
Mycorrhizae is not a nitrogen-fixing bacterial inoculant, Lachance said.
“Rather, our company is dealing strictly with the fungi aspect of micro-organisms, not the bacteria. Instead of fixing nitrogen as you see in a conventional bacterial inoculant, the fungi help the plant roots access the organic nitrogen in the soil. They bring the nitrogen to the roots.”
He said the mycorrhizae also give roots better access to phosphorus, micronutrients and moisture, giving the plant significant drought resistance.
Once the fungi have germinated from spores in the soil, they grow sticky threads called hyphae. These hyphae extend toward the roots, making contact with them, allowing the roots to absorb moisture and nutrients.
Lachance said mycorrhizae can be found just about any place where plants grow except land that has a long history of crop production.
“You seldom find a viable amount of this fungi on cropland because cultivation kills it. But you can find it in pastures that have never been cultivated.
“Part of our challenge has been to find just this one certain strain of fungi. There are naturally occurring fungi all over the place, but most species are quite lazy. You cannot get them to work for you,” Lachance said. “But this strain seems to have the greatest colonization capacity.”
Once the mycorrhizal fungi have been re-established in a field, they can theoretically last forever, said Lachance. He said that with only 22 years of research on a naturally occurring fungi that has survived for 400 million years, it would be difficult for anyone to make extravagant claims.
“But I think it would be self-sustaining if your fields were all zero till. I suspect that if you cultivated, you would need to apply fresh mycorrhizal (fungi) for the next year.”
Other benefits
Myke Pro contributes to disease resistance in another, more subtle way, said Lachance. In wheat crops, there is a reduction in rust and fusarium, primarily because the treated plants are healthier and in better shape to fight off disease. He said the company expects to establish test plots to document this health aspect.
The cost for a field scale application of the mycorrhizal fungi runs about $16 per acre.
“That may seem high,” said Lachance, “but if that application allows you to pick up nutrients that will otherwise remain locked in the soil, then it might be a good investment.”
As for a large-scale commercial volume of the fungi, Lachance thinks the company will concentrate on wheat and corn for the immediate future. It already has CFIA registration for grasses, and Lachance said that can easily be expanded to cover both wheat and corn.
“We believe that the future of agriculture will be very different from what we see today. We see a farm in the future where the seed that goes into the ground will carry more of the load. There will be a large reduction in fertilizer and crop protection inputs.
“As farmers start thinking more about ecological cycles and promoting life in their soils, we will see more emphasis on these symbiotic relationships between soil and people.”
