Discuss fungus - plant association.
Answers
A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between a green plant and a fungus.
In a mycorrhizal association, the fungus colonizes the host plant's root tissues, either intracellularly or extracellularly.
The association is generally mutualistic, but in particular species or in particular circumstances, mycorrhizae may be variously parasitic in the host plants
The plant makes organic molecules such as sugars by photosynthesis and supplies them to the fungus, and the fungus supplies the plant with water and mineral nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the soil.
Mycorrhizas are located in the roots of vascular plants, but mycorrhiza-like associations also occur in bryophytes.
Most plant species form mycorrhizal associations. . The most common form of such association is the arbuscular type that is present in 70% of plant species, including many crop plants such as wheat and rice.