Participant Department of Plant Nutrition College of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences China Agricultural University Beijing 100094 (CAU)

Main experimental plant Sweet Potato Sweet potato (Ipomaea batatas) is a food crop which is widely cultivated in the north of China, ranking after wheat and maize. In practice, growth and yield of sweet potato are greatly limited because of the wide occurrence of calcareous soils which have high P-fixing capacities and consequently a low level of plant-available phosphate. It is a traditional practice to prepare vegetative seedlings of sweet potato in seedling beds and then hand transfer stem cuttings to the field, which facilitates direct low-cost inoculation with AMF to increase sweet potato yield.

Sweet potato cultivation The plants showing P-deficiency Harvest of sweet potato

Participant Key Laboratory of Agromicrobiology Ministry of Agriculture, China College of Life Science and Technology Huazhong Agricultural University Wuhan 430070 (HAU)

Main experimental plant Maize Maize (Zea mays) is an important food crop for which considerable development is planned in central China. Most of the land destined for maize culture in this area is where P-deficient acid soils are a major limitation for optimal yields. Furthermore, farmers in some parts of central China traditionally produce maize plants by first raising maize seedlings in soil blocks and later hand-transplanting them into fields. This agricultural practice provides an easy, low-cost means to ensure the introduction of selected efficient AMF into maize production by inoculation prior to transplanting into the field.

Participant Department of applied Biology and Chemical Technology Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hunghom Kowloon Hong Kong (HKPU)

Main experimental plant Cassava Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is one of the most important calorie-producing crops in the tropics. It is efficient in carbohydrate production, adapted to a wide range of environments, and tolerant to drought and acid soils. The major portion of the economic product, the root, is consumed as food through varying degrees of processing. However, the market of cassava in China is small due to its poor yield in the acidic P-deficient soils where it is produced. Mycorrhiza technology can be easily transferred to cassava production by inoculating stem cuttings that are traditionally hand-transplanted into the field.