Soil salinity constitutes a major abiotic stress that contributes to soil degradation and crop yield reduction. Using arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation can help to alleviate these deleterious effects. Most researches on AMF application are dealing with ecological restoration, whereas little consideration has been given to agriculture and legume production. The comparison of the efficacy of two AMF inoculums, one native originating from Algerian semiarid saline soils and one commercial inoculum, was carried out regarding their effects on the growth and the mineral nutrition of several legumes species, Medicago sativa, Medicago falcata, Trifolium repens and Trifolium alexandrinum, cultivated in semiarid Algerian saline soil under greenhouse conditions. Our results showed that native mycorrhizal inoculum enhanced shoot biomasses by 20%, mycorrhizal rate by 30%, shoot phosphorus content by 25% and K+/Na+ ratio by 45% for studied plants when compared with commercial inoculum. The best efficiency of the native AMF inoculum is probably due to the complementarity between the AMF strains which composed the inoculum. Funneliformis geosporum was the most abundant species recorded at the end of the experience in all plant roots especially with native inoculum. Our findings pointed out the effectiveness of native AMF inoculum application to promote agricultural production in semiarid saline soils.
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