Mycorrhiza has a lot of advantages and benefits. The most important are:
▪ Mycorrhizae represent one of the nature’s best gift to mankind in addressing the constraints of enhanced quality productivity with sustainability. The significance of Mycorrhiza in augmenting food production and land productivity is accepted and appreciated by scientists & researchers all over the world. Over 50,000 University studies have highlighted the benefits of mycorrhizal colonization on the health and yield of plants and there has been fascinating advancements of research in this area during the past 30 years.
▪ Mycorrhiza is the only known fungal system, which is categorized as a biofertilizer. Its hyphae can extend much beyond a few meters away the plant root zone and thus can acquire nutrients from a much wider soil area. In soil, mycorrhiza produces vegetative structures like chlamydospores and zygospores, which become dormant during the period of environmental stress and germinate with the return of favourable conditions. Thus, they are better equipped for combating the unfavourable conditions and have longer shelf lives as compared to the bacteria based product.
▪ Mycorrhiza is a broad-spectrum non-specific organism. A single species is known to colonize 85% of land plants.
▪ Mycorrhiza increases the rate of photosynthesis and hence improves plant growth, productivity and yield.
▪ Mycorrhiza has a broad ecological adaptability and is known to occur in deserts as well as arctic, temperate, tropical and other inhospitable habitats.
▪ Mycorrhiza offers up to 50% reduction in chemical fertilizer application.
▪ Mycorrhiza facilitates better uptake of nutrients like phosphorus and immobile trace elements like zinc, cobalt, magnesium, iron, copper, molybdenum, etc, leading to better nutrition for plants.
▪ Mycorrhiza offers tolerance against a range of soil stresses like heavy metal toxicity, salinity, drought, and high soil temperatures. This enhances the chances of plant survival immensely.
▪ Mycorrhiza offers higher resistance to various soil and root-borne pathogens, thus becoming a potential disease control agent.
▪ Mycorrhiza helps in soil conservation and soil structure stabilization, thus restoring land productivity.