Mycorrhizal associations are vary widely in structure and function, but the most common interaction is the vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) symbiosis. This study targeted to isolate the VAM-like, the root endophytes, fungi from healthy roots of lettuce and wheat plants, investigation their antagonistic effects against the causal agents of the tomato fusarium wilt disease, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL), and the root-rot disease of eggplant, Sclerotium rolfsii (SR). The promotion effects of the isolated root endophytes on growth of wheat plants were investigated. Also, their capabilities to inducing resistance against infections with FOL and SR in plants of tomato and eggplant respectively were studied.
We can concluded that, isolation of the VAM-like fungi from healthy roots of field grown crop plants and applying their inoculants at 1 or 2% particularly under greenhouse conditions resulted in significant improvement in plant growth and increased their resistance against soil-borne pathogens.