The conceptualisation of mycorrhizosphere of banana crop and it's benefits

The top root soil around a banana plant, supplemented with organic carbon of soil conditioner, plant growth promoting organisms (consortium of biofertilisers) and native mycorrhizae cumulatively constituted its mycorrhizosphere. Drippers used for irrigation maintained requisite moisture level in this sphere. Exogenously introduced biofertilisers proliferated in the matrix provided by soil conditioner and helped the plant symbiotically to sustain its productivity and yield. They grew on the mycoplane as well as rhizoplane to interact with vesicular arbuscular mycrorrhizae (VAMs) and roots. VAMs produced extracellular hyphae, which extended several cm into the surrounding matrix and exuded organic secretions that were substrates to other soil microbes. These hyphae-associated microbes frequently produced sticky materials that caused soil aggregation that imparted texture to soil, allowing for improved aeration, water percolation and stability. Mycorrhization selectively altered pressure on the population of soil microbes, some of which engaged in controlling root borne pathogens