Abstract

Many crops have mutualistic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF) associations that positively affect plant and soil health. AMF likely mitigates agricultural problems like topsoil depletion and compaction from tilling. The literature review on AMF associations under different practices showed the need for more studies. This project studied an AMF community's impact on soil quality and plant health in conventional till(CT) and no-till(NT) managed corn and soybean plants. Data was gathered from these fields in West MI, using field soil to inoculate greenhouse plants in normal/drought conditions. Three types of data were collected for each case: 1)AMF community via spore type and presence, 2)Soil structure via aggregate size and nutrient quantity, and 3)Plant productivity via root-shoot biomass ratio and structure. This study will provide an update of our ongoing data collection and analysis. This study aims to describe the conditions where AMF benefit crop production and soil quality locally.