Objective The project aims to quantify and optimise the long-term advantages for productivity and nutrition of Casuarinas, grown in small plantations by many farmers in southern India, of sustainable associations with the N fixing actinomycete Frankia and with mycorrhizal symbionts. The benefits that accrue from inoculation of nursery seedlings with mycrosymbionts is well established for many actinorhizal plant species and such research is an objective of STD2 project TS2*CT9O-0317 (SSMU). Immunological techniques, currently in use with mycorrhizal fungi, will be developed and utilised for the rapid and specific detection of elite Frankia and mycorrhizal strains that are being introducted in STD2 to nursery Casuarinas for outplanting in plantations in India. The research will provide essential information, currently lacking in this field, on the long-term competitivity and survival of Frankia in tropical soils and on the persistence and rate of spread of introduced mycorrhizal strains. The data will be combined with measurements of the amounts of N fixed and the mineral N sources available to Casuarinas as they mature, obtained from d15N and dD natural abundance analyses. Further research will be carried out to develop culture systems for the production of mycorrhizal and Frankia nodulated micropropagated seedlings of Casuarina, that could be made available to growers without the need for further inoculation. This system may also enable the maintenance of axenic cultures of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizas (VAM) for use in antibody production and for dissemination to growers. The overall aim of the project will be to optimise and obtain projections of the time span over which benefits to Casuarina outplants of improved nutrition will result from associations with selected strains of microsymbionts. Together with the data from the STD2 project, this proposal will enable predictions to be made that will allow the grower to assess the value of microbial inoculation for tree crop production in both nursery and plantation. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycologysocial scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economicsproductivitymedical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutritionagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture Programme(s) FP3-STD 3 - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of the life sciences and technologies for developing countries, 1990-1994 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator University of Glasgow Address University avenue G12 8QQ Glasgow United Kingdom See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (5) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Scottish Agricultural College United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address 581 king street AB9 1UD Aberdeen See on map TEAGASC - AGRICULTURE AND FOOD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Ireland EU contribution € 0,00 Address Malahide road 17 Dublin See on map TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH Germany EU contribution € 0,00 Address Alte akademie 12 85350 Freising See on map Tamil Nadu Agricultural University India EU contribution € 0,00 Address Udhagamandalam See on map University of Aberdeen United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address 581 king street AB9 1FX Aberdeen See on map
