Dear Legesse,

Greetings! Your question seems to be quite fundamental especially in rehabilitating a fragile and disturbed landscape such as the degraded panorama (the landscape). Yes, mycorrhiza has a huge potential in rehabilitating your landscape yet this is one of the many technologies that need to be applied. It has a potential because of various advantages that you can obtain from the mycorrhiza as a technology. It can increase water absorption, nutrient obtainment, disease tolerance and many more. Here in the Leyte, Philippines, we are actually utilizing mycorrhiza inoculated to the seedling or crop plants. This technology was incorporated as a technique in seedling propagation for various reforestation programs. There are a lot of literature found in open-access journal stipulating comprehensive review about the subject matter. (The product was named MYKOVAM here in the Philippines). I'm not sure what is your available product in your country. 

Best Regards,

Dernie

Many thanks Dernie, appreciate it.

I am agree with the Dernie comments, especially in the degraded soils or low rainfall 450-550 mm. We are actually utilizing mycorrhiza (Tuber melanosporum) inoculated to oak plants (Quercus rotundifolia). In salamanca province, Spain this association is available.

All the best

Ignacio

This is very interesting, Ignacio. Thank you very much.

I am not sure, Are you Professor Legesse Negash!!

If you are Professor Legesse Negash, I am you student, even if you didn't directly teach me in class in the addis Ababa university. I said this because I was and I am one of the  beneficiars  of your  research outputs. If you are really Professor Legese Negash who I knowl, please prove this. Then I will come to you point of discussion my Distinguished Professor.

Dear Dr Legesse,

There is a product called Agrostemin that can help you a lot. Is already in Ethiopia, though not commercially available, but I do believe the Institute that conducted tests with it, do have some quantity to give you.

I do have photos of coffee seedlings that will make you even more proud being a native of the country of its origin.

Please contact me at [email protected] , so I can give you details and bring you in touch with them to get some test quantity.

Regards

Thanks so much, dear Rudiger. I appreciate your unstinting assistance! I would be grateful if you could kindly send me the publications you mentioned above in .pdf  via:

[email protected]

Many thanks once more.

Dear Wassie,

Yes, it is me. Thanks for your kind words.

Legesse Negash.

Dear Nikos,

Many thanks for the help. I will contact you through your email.

May this help you my distinguished Professor?

Mycorrhiza is a a beneficial type of fungi that grows in association with most plant roots. Mycorrhizae increase the root's ability to absorb nutrients and water from the soil by increasing the surface absorbing area of roots from 100 to 1,000 times. Mycorrhizae also release powerful enzymes that help dissolve nutrients such as organic nitrogen, phosphorous, and iron. Mycorrhizae establish a symbiotic relationship with the roots of most plants. After getting into the roots, they connect them to one another by sending out their filaments (also known as hypha), and increase the depth of absorption. In return the plants provide glucose to the mycorrhizae.A mycorrhiza grows after the germination of a fungal spore. From this spore emerge threadlike organisms that gradually penetrate the root epidermis. This creates a more absorptive soil, resulting in a higher assimilation of water and minerals, especially copper, manganese, zinc, and phosphorus.

There are more than 150 types of mycorrhizal fungi worldwide. Some soils already contain mycorrhiza, but in certain cases, such as new gardens, landscapes, or tilled fields, horticulturalists may choose to add a pre-mixed mycorrhiza product. Adding compost to the soil will increase the amount of organic matter in it and therefore encourage the establishment and growth of mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizal inoculants can be added to the soil to encourage the growth of fungi but it is important to note that there are various plant-specific strains of this fungi and therefore buying a specific type is the key. It might not be necessary to add these inoculants unless the soil microbe population has been damaged.Mycorrhizal plants have been known to be more resistant to different types of plant diseases, especially soil-borne illnesses.Benefits of mycorrhizal inoculation

In situations where naturally occurring mycorrhizal associations are infrequent or ineffective an appropriate inoculant can benefit new or established plants by:

-Reducing transplant shock

-Extending the growing season - plants grow larger, flower earlier and produce higher yields

-Providing protection from attack by soil-borne pathogens

-Buffering against toxic levels of trace elements on contaminated land

-Increasing the ability to tolerate environmental stresses.

Commercially available products often contain both ectomycorrhizal and endomycorrhizal species and allow the plant to select the appropriate species for its needs. Not all plants benefit equally from the symbiosis; plant responses to interaction with mycorrhizal fungi vary considerably and management practices such as tillage and crop rotation may adversely affect mycorrhizal structures. Mycorrhizae are especially beneficial for plants in degraded or infertile soils and generally coarse-rooted plants benefit more than fine-rooted plants.

Mycorrhiza also benefit the soil and the wider ecosystem in the following ways:

-Improving soil structure, particularly in manufactured or degraded soils

-Allowing survival of many kinds of seedling that would otherwise never compete, in effect increasing plant diversity.

-Below-ground diversity of fungi is one of the major contributing factors to the above-ground plant biodiversity in ecosystems.

Dear Birhanu Kagnew, I agree with your statement, but I would advise against

inoculating with mycorrhizal products, derived from other environments. That can have consequences like mutations, that are not always desirable.

If instead, we support the local ones, even if in minimal amounts, the results are much better. Altering the micro equilibrium with "foreign" organisms, is not wise.