Abstract

In many agricultural crops, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi co-exist and interact with saprophytic fungi. This study aimed to analyze the effects of two free-living phosphofungi on the growth of potatoes co-inoculated with Claroideoglomus claroideum. Micropropagated native potato plantlets were transferred to a sterile Andisol previously inoculated with C. claroideum and subsequently two saprophytic fungi. The treatments were: C. claroideum (T0), C. claroideum + Talaromyces pinophilus (T1), C. claroideum + Penicillium albidum (T2), and C. claroideum + T. pinophilus + P. albidum (T3). At harvest, the most relevant results show that in T3 the height, shoot dry weight, root length and P acquisition of the potato plants were increased. Therefore, dry weight and P absorbed by minitubers were enhanced two and three-fold, respectively, compared with T0, along with an increase in the length of the thinnest roots. It is concluded that co-inoculation of this fungal consortium could be an advantageous alternative to be used as a bioinoculant by potato tuber seed producers in sustainable agriculture.