This book covers recent advances in the role and potential of mycorrhizae in crop improvement. First, there are chapters which summarize current knowledge in a number of areas including: the role and activity of the external mycelium and the effects of interaction between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in nutrient uptake (including water) and in resistance of plants to pests and diseases. These are followed by chapters dealing with the role of AM fungi in specific agricultural areas including horticulture, tropical and Indian agriculture. They do not include the possible roles of AM fungi in temperate agricultural systems, such as those in North America, Australia and Europe, or cover agriculture in the Far East including China. This may be due to a perceived lack of requirement for AM fungi in these systems, a lack of appropriate research in these geographical areas or a lack of willing authors. The last chapter summarizes recent reviews into the possible roles and effects of climate change on the AM symbiosis, and highlights significant gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed.

In general, this is a well-written and very interesting volume that provides easy access to a large and disparate literature and emphasizes the importance of AM symbiosis, the level of knowledge associated with its role in agriculture, both current and moving into the future, and the significant lack of knowledge required to produce more efficient symbiotic systems. This lack is particularly apparent in the paucity of experimental data available to the author of the chapter on climate change.