The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of different proportions of red peat and sand in the substrate on root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and the consequent growth of white oats. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse and the treatments consisted of combinations of read peat (T) and sand (A): 100%A; 25%T+75%A; 50%T+50%A; 75%T+25%A; 100%T. Ten oat seeds were sown per container (350ml volume) containing 5 grams of Glomus clarum inoculum. Forty-three days after sowing, vegetative development and mycorrhizae colonization of the plants' root system were evaluated by recording the presence of structures such as hyphae, arbuscules and vesicles. Substrates with higher amount of red peat led to increased shoot growth and quality of roots. However, the presence of peat above 50% in the substrate decreased the percentage of colonization of oats by AMF. The similarity of the regression curves of percentage of colonization and readily available water, with the same maximum point, suggest that the amount of mesopores influences the AMF response. It is concluded that the best quality of the substrate for the production of inoculum of Glomus clarum in mixtures of red peat and sand is obtained with about 32,5% red peat content in the mixture.
endomycorrhizae; physical characteristics of the substrate; inoculum production
