Mycorrhiza-inenting voor een duurzame cassaveproductie

Cassava is a crop with a lot of potentials and a lot of challenges. One of such challenges includes drought as a result of the changing climate. In countries like Nigeria- still struggling to meet up with increasing industrial demands, the crop is 100% rain-fed. This makes cassava fully exposed to current and future disturbance in rainfall pattern. Cassava is highly mycorrhizal. Owing to the symbiotic association that exists between cassava and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) this study will focus on the role of AMF in rendering cassava more tolerant during drought spells while using stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen to evaluate the intervention. The study will entail exploring the AMF diversity relevant to the productivity of the crop in cassava growing regions in Nigeria, a screen house study in KULeuven and a field trial in Nigeria.