Community of Indigenous Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (Amf) of Chili Rhizosphere and Natural Forest Ecosystem

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play a significant role in enhancing soil health, nutrient uptake and availability in soils. This research aimed to determine the status of indigenous AMF on an intensively cultivated agricultural soil ecosystem (chili rhizosphere) and a natural forest ecosystem in Garut district, well known as a central chili producer in West Java. High tillage of agricultural soil may lead to destruction of the soil microbial community in general, therefore a forest ecosystem representing an untilled natural soil was used as a comparison Soil sampling was done in transects with the length of an ordinate point in every 100 m on chili cultivated areas and in the natural forest soil ecosystem of Gunung Putri. Five composite soil samples (0-20 cm depth) from each ecosystem were taken based on coordinate points. The number of indigenous AMF spores and roots colonisation was determined and mycorrhiza species were identified using a molecular analysis of the AMF DNA. The research results revealed that number of AMF spores in the chili rhizosphere soil was greater than in the natural forest soil. However, the degree of mycorrhizal colonisation in the rhizosphere under both ecosystems was not significantly different. The indigenous Glomus etunicatum was identified to be the dominant species in both soil ecosystems. Further research needs to investigate the potential of this indigenous AMF that could develop as biofertilizer for cultivation of chili.