Effect of arbuscular endomycorrhizas associated with cow manure in Leucaena leucocephala

Raising tropical livestock is an important activity in southern Mexico. Leucaena leucocephala is a plant with great potential for utilization in these areas. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are renowned for their ability to improve the nutrition of plants. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the growth response of Leucaena leucocephala to the inoculation with arbuscular endomycorrhizae and different doses of organic manure. The study was done under greenhouse conditions, in order to evaluate the effect of Arbuscular endomycorrihza and different quantities of cow manure on the development of growth and Leucaena leucocephala. The treatments had a completely randomized block design with factorial (7x2) arrangement with four replications. The application treatments resulted from the interaction of the following factors: fine pulverized cow manure (CM) in doses of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 3.0, 6.0, 12 t ha(-1) with and without Glomus intraradices(GI). The inoculation and application of CM was during the transplant, mixed with 10 g of sand with alfalfa roots colonized with (GI) and/or with the different doses of CM, in the six centimeters of topsoil. The variables were plant height (PH), stem diameter, (SD), number of leaves (NL), number of leaflets (N.L), root volume (RV), root dry weight (RDW), dry weight of biomass (DWB) and total percentage of endomycorrhiza colonization (PEC). The experiment lasted 180 days from planting until harvesting. The results show highly significant effects with Glomus intraradices for all variables. Cow manure was highly significant for all variables, except, stem diameter. The best response was obtained with 12 ton ha(-1) cow manure.