VAM (AMF) staining.

[Stephen P. Bentivenga]

On Fri, 3 May 1996 19:11:31 GMT  ecoli at cix.compulink.co.uk ("K N and P J
Harris") said:

>Force of circumstance made me carry out some standard staining of onion 
>roots for VAM which had been dried and kept very dry for six months. So 
>dry that they were very brittle. A normal KOH then HCl then Trypan Blue 
>stain was applied. I am sure that the results were better than with 
>fresh root material. Has anyone else had the same experience ?
>Peter Harris,
>Department of Soil Science (The only one left in UK)
>University of Reading.


I routinely stain roots after they have been oven dried.  I have found it is
the most convenient way to get both dry mass and % colonization data.  It
works well with most plant species.  I would not say that the results are
"better" but they are not any worse.  The only problem I have found is that
the hyphae and arbuscules often collapse after drying, making good
photographs difficult.  If you need pictures of the text book arbuscules I
don't recommend drying.  

- Steve Bentivenga   


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