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PREVENTION OF DESERT SOIL EROSION AND ENHANCING SOIL STABILIZATION BY MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI AND BY CACTUS PLANTS INOCULATED WITH AZOSPIRILLUM BRASILENSE

Introduction When naturally vegetated deserts are cleared either to produce marginal agricultural land that is later abandoned or to build urban neighborhoods lacking paved roads, the natural, organic safeguards that hold the topsoil against erosion are destroyed. The result is a severe loss of soil and subsequent dust pollution. The latter significantly increases chronic respiratory illnesses. This phenomenon is on the increase throughout the developing world. In North America, it predominates in the semiarid region of the Mexican Northwest, where abandoned fields quickly become barren (“desertify”). Re-establishment of a plant cover in these areas cannot occur naturally, since the nurse plants (like the legume, mesquite) on whose canopies many of the climax-vegetation plants (cacti) depend for successful establishment, have been removed. Many desert plants, especially cacti, are excellent top-soil stabilizers. These plants may be used to prevent soil erosion and reduce dust pollution in urban areas, but their low rate of establishment and slow development when transferred from natural habitats or from nurseries to eroded urban soil limit their use. Cacti (as all plants), however, not only benefit from, but actually depend on, the presence of soil microbes for early establishment and subsequent growth. Inoculation with soil organisms is therefore common practice of agriculture and forestry in developed countries. We contend that microorganisms, such as plant-growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) and mycorrhizal fungi (MF), are integral parts of the revegetation process and can be used as a biotechnological tool to reduce soil erosion and dust pollution.