Mycorrhizal relationships of wild Vanilla plants and their implications for Vanilla cultivation
Paul Bayman, PhD
University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras
Orchid seeds in nature must establish a mutualistic relationship with fungi to germinate; such relationships between plants and fungi are called mycorrhizae. Some orchid plants depend on mycorrhizae throughout their lives, while others do not. Despite the commercial importance of Vanilla, little is know about its relationships with mycorrhizal fungi. We have isolated mycorrhizal fungi from wild Vanilla plants in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Cuba and identified them by DNA sequencing. The plants we sampled were associated with a wide range of fungi. In vitro germination and growth tests showed that some fungi were significantly better than others at promoting plant growth. These studies suggest that mycorrhizal fungi are potentially useful in Vanilla cultivation to reduce root rots, stimulate seed germination and increase survival of propagated plants.
Paul Bayman is Professor of Biology at the University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras. He received a PhD in Botany from the University of California - Berkeley under the direction of O'Neil Ray Collins. He is interested in plant-fungal relationships, including mycorrhizae of tropical orchids.