The Potential Of Native Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculation To Improve The Dry Evergreen Afromontane Forests Restoration Efforts In Ethiopia

Currently, the restoration of dry evergreen Afromontane forests (DAF) is one of thernmost important environmental agendas in Ethiopia. However, DAF restoration is veryrnchallenging and so far, there has been limited success. Therefore, this study aimed tornevaluate if there are potential benefits of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)rninoculation to improve DAF restoration. Firstly, we investigated the AMF status ofrnnine native tree species raised in ten tree nurseries of central and northern Ethiopia.rnSecondly, we determined the AMF spore abundance (SA) and infectivity and the soilrnphysicochemical property (a proxy to AMF composition) across four land uses, viz.,rnnatural forest (NF), shrub land (ShL), cropland (CrL), and grazing land (GrL) of thernChilimo forest (CF). Thirdly, in a mesh-house experiment, we evaluated the wholesoilrnAMF inoculation effects on the growth and quality of Cordia africana Lam.,rnJuniperus procera Hochst. ex Endl., and Podocarpus falcatus (Thunb.) R. Br. ex Mirbrnseedlings grown on sterile and non-sterile degraded DAF ecosystem soil. SA in thernnurseries ranged from 1.30-24.63 spores g-1 of soil and was comparable with the SArnrange found in the CF (3.4-25.3 g-1 of soil). Root AMF colonization (RC) of seedlingsrnranged from 8-97.67%. Our results indicated that none of the seedlings were with lowrnvrnSA and RC simultaneously. We also found that land-use changes in the CF,rnsignificantly (p

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