The Ontario Soil and Crop improvement Association, the Northeastern Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, and the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance are collaborating on a two year trial testing an arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculant on potatoes in the Sudbury area.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are fungi that naturally occur in soils and form mutually beneficial relationships with the roots of plants, allowing the roots to extend their reach and allowing the plant to take up nutrients and water that it otherwise wouldn’t be able to otherwise access. These networks of fungi are broken up by soil disturbances, especially frequent deep tilling.

The mycorrhizal inoculant being used for the trial is AGTIV, which is a commercial product from Premier Tech that aims to re-establish these networks in agricultural scenarios where tilling is required. For potatoes, the product is a liquid, bit it is available for other crops as well, often as a powder.

For the current trial, the inoculant is being tested on 40 acres of potatoes in the Blezard Valley area, but the results should be generalizable to the rest of northern Ontario. As part of the trial, tissue samples and yield data are being collected and compared against non-inoculated samples to determine the effect of the treatment. The trial will run from 2021 to 2023, and the report for the first year is now available on NOFIA’s website.

The first year showed negligible differences between the inoculated and non-inoculated potato plant tissue samples, but the yield of the inoculated potatoes was 6.67% more than that of the non-inoculated potatoes. This increase results in an increase in income of some $200 per acre.

The trial will continue for another year and will hopefully confirm these positive initial results.