The use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be an alternative to improve the production of seedlings, since they can shorten the time of seedlings formation in several fruits. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of AMF on the growth of pineapple shoots from the technique of removing the apical meristem of crowns also inoculated with AMF. The experiment was set up in randomized block design in a 2x3 factorial, with two pineapple cultivars ('Smooth Cayenne' and 'Pearl') and three microbiological treatments (no inoculation, inoculation with Glomus etunicatum and inoculation with a mixture of the fungi Glomus clarum and Gigaspora margarita, with four replications. The inoculation with AMF, provided no reduction in the duration of the seedlings production. The AMF inoculation on cultivar Pearl showed to be not beneficial, the microbiological treatment with the mixture performed like a parasite, reducing the nutritional content of P and K and is not suitable for this cultivar. In the other hand, the 'Smooth Cayenne' inoculation with AMF provided an increase of the P content in the seedlings.
Ananas comosus var; comosus; fusariosis; pineapple; seedlings; propagation
