An experiment was carried out in a greenhouse to evaluate the growth of papaya seedlings inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and diazotrophic bacteria, in the absence and presence of phosphorus. The experimental design was randomized blocks in a 4 x 3 x 2 factorial scheme, treatments consisting of: species of mycorrhizal fungi Glomus clarum, Gigaspora margarita and mixed inoculum Glomus clarum + Gigaspora margarita and a control without AMF; diazotrophic bacteria Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Azospirillum sp., and a control without diazotrophic bacteria, and two levels of phosphorus in the soil, 0 and 25 mg dm-3 with four replications. At 105 days after sowing, the plants were collected and evaluated for plant height, leaf area, stem diameter, dry matter of shoot, root and total dry matter, percentage of root colonization and enumeration of diazotrophs in roots. Inoculation with AMF provides significant increases in the growth of papaya seedlings, even under low phosphorus availability, regardless of the presence of diazotrophic bacteria. The fungus G. margarita and the mixed inoculum G. margarita + G. clarum stand out as the most promising to the cultivation of papaya. The inoculation with diazotrophic bacteria in the absence or presence of AMF did not provide suppressive or stimulatory effect on papaya growth.
Carica papaya L; Gigaspora margarita; Glomus clarum; Stenotrophomonas maltophilia; Azospirillum sp
