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NEWSLETTER January 2014
Mycorrhizae: Rooted In Science
S
antiam Organics is a producer of bio-based products for the home consumer. Their goal at Santiam is to allow individuals to grow plants organically, without the need of harmful chemicals, and still reap the bounty of increased plant health, tolerance to adverse environmental conditions (such as drought and high soil salinity), more efficient use of water, resistance to many diseases, and last, but not least, increased fruit and flower production. The technology behind the Santiam products has been a topic of study for close to 70 years, but the organisms that are used in the products have been helping plants flourish for millions of years.
What is Mycorrhizae?
The term mycorrhiza describes the mutually beneficial (symbiotic) relationship between specialised soil fungi and the roots of most plants on the Earth. Myco = fungus, rhizo = root. These fungi have been associated with plant roots for 460 million years, ever since plants began to grow in soil. Still further, other soil microbes become associated with the mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere soil (soil associated with and influenced by root exudates). Then, rhizosphere soil becomes mycorrhizosphere soil: soil influenced by both fungus and the root. The mycorrhizal fungi become the interface between the soil and plant roots: the fungi colonize the roots internally, and the soil externally. Internally, the fungus becomes the Symbiotic Relationship Between interface where nutrient Mycorrhizae and Plant Roots exchanges occur between
the fungus and plant by direct contact of the fungus with the root cells: carbon energy from the plant to the fungus, and soil nutrients from the fungus to the host plant. In addition, a plant with mycorrhizae is physiologically altered due to biochemical changes that occur in the plant. Our mycorrhizal products reflect that holistic association. The benefits of that team of microbes, orchestrated by the mycorrhizal fungi, can be many, especially for plants under stress.
Benefits of Mycorrhizae • • • • • •
INCREASED YIELD ENHANCED PLANT GROWTH ENHANCED ROOT DEVELOPMENT INCREASED DISEASE RESISTANCE IMPROVED TRANSPLANT SUCCESS INCREASED DROUGHT TOLERANCE
Mycorrhizae have been proven to aid plants in the acquisition of water and nutrients, and to enable them to better tolerate such things as soil toxicity, drought, and other environmental stresses. In the soil around plant roots, they develop associations with other beneficial microbes. In agricultural systems where intense cultivation has degraded the soils over time, the mycorrhizal associations have become reduced and in many cases are not effective. Growers have been forced to compensate for their lack with applications of fertilizers and pesticides. For growers of crops in soilless media, mycorrhizal fungi and other beneficial microbes are simply not present and therefore cannot provide benefit to plants. For more information please visit: www.easy-grow.co.uk/santiam-organics Please turn over to read more about the MycoFusion Range.
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