At transplanting, the roots of seedlings (one per pot) were
washed with distilled water and inoculated by dipping in a solution
of w105 conidia ml1 of F. oxysporum for 30 s to enable conidia
(spores) to adhere to the roots. Immediately thereafter, the seedlings
were treated as follows. For complex MTZ01 (AMF) inoculation,
one depression (1 cm wide by 5 cm deep) was made in each
pot and filled with 10 g of inoculum obtained from host plants. The
holes were then covered with the same sterilized mix. For plants
inoculated with rhizobacteria, 1 ml contained w108 CFU ml1
(adjusted by optical density at 560 nm) Pseudomonas strain PPV3
applied to the root system of each seedling in the planting hole.
Plants were inoculated with one of eight treatments: sterile water
(control), pathogen fungi (strain FOPV001), complex MTZ01, PPV3,
complex MTZ01 þ PPV3, FOPV001 þ complex MTZ01, FOPV001 þ
PPV3, and FOPV001 þ complex MTZ01 þ PPV3. Each treatment was
replicated 15 times and the test was conducted two time