Agricultural practices are evolving towards a more sustainable and respectful approach with the environment, where the use of biofertilizers appears as an alternative to the intensive use of chemical fertilizers. Among the biofertilizers, mycorrhiza are associations between a fungus and the roots of a vascular plant, and in several cases they have shown to be important for plant performance.
The MICOSOIL and MICOFER projects try to identify autochthonous mycorrhiza of natural and agricultural soils adapted to the edaphoclimatic conditions of the Basque Country. The isolated mycorrhiza are identified by means of microscopic analysis of spores and genetic sequencing. Afterwards, the effect of the inoculation of selected mycorrhiza on the productivity and nutritional quality of vegetable species are studied under controlled conditions.
These projects are funded by the Basque Government (Berriker program, 2014 and 2015) and are being carried out in collaboration with Biogenetics, S.L.U.
