Browsing by Author "Mugendi, Ezekiel"

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    Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Trichodermaspp Influence on Nutrient Uptake and Water Stress Tolerance in Cowpea (VignaunguiculataL. Walp)
    (2023-11) Wanjala, Daniel; Mutune, Adelaide; Mugendi, Ezekiel
    Drought and nutrient un-availability are amongst the major environmental stresses that hinder plants productivity. The use of synthetic fertilizers in drought-stricken lands is unaffordable to most small-holder farmers and contributesto environmental pollution. This study was conducted to determine the influence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi and Trichoderma spp onnutrient uptakein cowpeaat different soil water levels under greenhouse conditions. The experiment wasconducted using a 3 × 2 × 8 factorialarranged on a completely randomized block design with the three water levels treatmentof90 % (no stress), 60 % (mild stress), and 30 % (severe stress) of field capacity (FC). Two cowpea varieties (KVU 27-1 and K80) were used in each water level and each was subjected toeightfungal inoculation treatments: Funneliformismosseae,Rhisophagusirregularis,Trichodermaharzianum,Trichoderma asperellum,Funneliformismosseae+Rhisophagusirregularis,Trichoderma harzianum+Trichoderma asperellum, T. harzianum+ Funneliformismosseae+ Rhisophagusirregularis, and control (un-inoculated) that were in the replicates of four. The shoot tissue analysis wasdone to determine the nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) contents. The data were subjected to a Two-Way ANOVAto determine the influence of the two fungi on nutrient uptake.Means were separated using Bonferroniat p <0.05. Results showed that all the shoot nutrient contentswere significant at (p<0.05) with soil water level treatment in both varieties. Water stress negativelyinfluencedshoot nutrient contents. The combined inoculation of HarS and HBB greatly influencedshoot nutrient levels for both cowpea varietiesthan the controls. The highest N and P shoot content were 3.7 % (in KVU 27-1) and 0.12 % (in K80) inoculated with HBB and HarS respectively. The highest K content was 2.7 % in bothvarieties inoculated with HarS. Therefore, co-inoculation of HarS and HBB was the most appropriate tonutrient uptake in the cowpea varieties.