New Formulations, Product Development, and Commercialization of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are the group of obligate symbionts associated with land plants in various ecosystems. Till date, at least 18 genera and 237 species are well identified, which make association with more than 80% of the land plants. Due to the wide host range and adaptability to the diverse geoclimatic conditions, AM fungi have been well utilized in sustainable agriculture production as well as ecosystem restoration programmes across the globe. Culture of AM fungi is the bottle-neck process in the mass multiplication and commercialization of AM fungi. In the last seven decades, a number of methodologies were developed to culture the AM fungi in vitro as well as in vivo, but obligate symbiotic nature of AM fungi remains a major constraint. Nowadays, ‘trap culture’ method is established as one of the easiest and common methods for mass multiplication of AM fungi under pot conditions, while carrot roots transformed by root-inducing (Ri) plasmid gene from Agrobacterium rhizogenes is used for monoxenic culture of AM fungi. In this chapter, all the developments in the field of AM fungal culture since the first study are described. Some of the relevant and easy methods are described with the help of artwork and photographs. Also, commercially available AM fungal products along with their specifications are listed in this review.