Early Quantification Of Symbiotic Root Capabilities Of Four Durum Wheat Varieties (triticum Durum Desf) And Two Barley Varieties (hordeum Vulgare. L.), Grown In The Semi-arid High Plains Of Western Algeria.

In the Algerian cereal zones, endophytic and arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi have an important function in nutrition and plant protection, especially early in the growing cycle of the crop. This work aims to quantify mycorrhizal and endophytic roots capacity of two varieties of barley and four varieties of durum wheat, widely grown in Algeria and known for their contrasting behavior. The experiment was conducted in the experimental station of the field crop Institute of Saida area, a cereal-producing region of western Algeria. The measurements are performed during tillering stage, on three root depth levels [0-20] [20-40] and [40-60]cm. Root portions are removed, stained, crushed and observed under light microscope. Mycorrhization rates (hyphae) of vesicles arbuscular fungi as well as endophytism rates are determined at each level. At this stage, the results show that the mycorrhization rate is higher than the rate of endophytism for both species; they highlighted heavy infection with mycorrhizae as well. The studied parameters showed varietal differences but significance was only for vesicle rates. The study also shows varietal difference for symbiotic kinetics in relation to the root depth.