Experiences worldwide reveal that degraded lands restoration projects achieve little success or fail. Hence, understanding the underlying causes and accordingly, devising appropriate restoration mechanisms is crucial. In doing so, the ever-increasing aspiration and global commitments in degraded lands restoration could be realized. Here we explain that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) biotechnology is a potential mechanism to significantly improve the restoration success of degraded lands. There are abundant scientific evidences to demonstrate that AMF significantly improve soil attributes, increase above and belowground biodiversity, significantly improve tree/shrub seedlings survival, growth and establishment on moisture and nutrient stressed soils. AMF have also been shown to drive plant succession and may prevent invasion by alien species. The very few conditions where infective AMF are low in abundance and diversity is when the soil erodes, is disturbed and is devoid of vegetation cover. These are all common features of degraded lands. Meanwhile, degraded lands harbor low levels of infective AMF abundance and diversity. Therefore, the successful restoration of infective AMF can potentially improve the restoration success of degraded lands. Better AMF inoculation effects result when inocula are composed of native fungi instead of exotics, early seral instead of late seral fungi, and are consortia instead of few or single species. Future research efforts should focus on AMF effect on plant community primary productivity and plant competition. Further investigation focusing on forest ecosystems, and carried out at the field condition is highly recommended. Devising cheap and ethically widely accepted inocula production methods and better ways of AMF in situ management for effective restoration of degraded lands will also remain to be important research areas.

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Tree species selection and seedlings lack of infective arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) could potentially contribute to low forest restoration success in Ethiopia. Hence, we evaluated the comparative field performance of Cordia africana (C. africana), Juniperus procera (J. procera), and Podocarpus falcatus (P. falcatus) seedlings and the effect of whole soil AMF inoculation. Seedlings prepared using the existing practice were planted on a field at Chancho, Central Ethiopia. Seedlings were inoculated with six types of whole soil AMF inoculums, no inoculation being the control. Seedlings survival was determined at the end of the 11 th month; relative growth rate in collar diameter (RGR-CD) and height (RGR-H) was determined at the 1 st , 2 nd , 5 th , 8 th , and 11 th months. We found out that the plantation site were very fertile with available phosphorus (Av P) =103.16 mg/Kg; total nitrogen (TN) = 0.376%; organic carbon (OC) = 3.12%; AMF spore abundance = 6.91±2.00 g-1. None of the P. falcatus and C. africana seedlings survived while 25% of J. procera seedlings survived. AMF inoculation did not have statistically significant effect on RGR-CD and RGR-H but conspecific inoculum resulted in significantly lower RGR-H of C. africana at the 2 nd month, indicating the probability of species specific effect of AMF inoculation.

Abstract. Asmelash F, Bekele T, Belay Z, Kebede F. 2021. Cordia africana but not Juniperus procera and Podocarpus falcatus respond positively to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi at the early stages of seedling development. Biodiversitas 22: 2971-2980. AMF (Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) inoculation could be an important technology to improve the growth and field survival of trees. Hence, we evaluated the mycorrhizal responsiveness of Cordia africana Lam., Juniperus procera (Hoechst. ex Endl.), and Podocarpus falcatus (Thumb.) Mirb. seedlings. Seedlings germinated on sterile sand were transplanted to 1-liter plastic pots filled with sterile and non-sterile degraded bulk soil. Rhizospheric soil from adult C. africana and J. procera were used as whole-soil AMF inocula. Cordia africana and J. procera received conspecific whole-soil AMF inocula while P. falcatus received J. procera inoculum. Hence, in the two-by-two factorial experiment, we also evaluated the growth effects of AMF inoculation, soil type, and their interaction. On the sterile potting soil, MRi (mycorrhizal responsiveness due to AMF inoculation) of C. africana was positive and significantly (p<0.05) greater than the MRi of J. procera and P. falcatus. However, on the non-sterile potting soil, it was significantly greater than the MRi of P. falcatus only. MRs (MR due to the existing potting soil inocula) and considering all growth variables were mostly positive for C. africana but negative for J. procera and P. falcatus. AMF inoculation significantly increased most growth variables of C. africana seedlings and no significant “inoculation” x “soil type” interaction effects were detected. Hence, AMF inoculation of C. africana seedlings could be merited and under wide range of field conditions. In the case of J. procera and P. falcatus, after-planting care could be more appropriate

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