This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in increasing plant performance and the concentration of bioactive compounds of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). A factorial pot experiment was conducted with nine replications for 120 d of cultivation. Three different species of AMF (Rhizophagus prolifer, Claroideoglomus etunicatum and Acaulospora mellea) were selected as the inoculum and compared with non-mycorrhizal controls without synthetic fertilizer and with synthetic NPK fertilizer. Interestingly, C. etunicatum KS-02 inoculations showed the best results in terms of growth and fruit weight, which were statistically higher than those of the control without AMF. Only fruit fresh weight was found higher in plant inoculated with C. etunicatum KS-02 than those of the synthetic NPK fertilizer treatments. In addition, C. etunicatum KS-02 inoculations led to an ≥11% increase in DDPH activity, lycopene content and carotenoid content, compared to the control. Furthermore, we are the first to report the effectiveness of Claroideoglomus species on promoting the growth, fruit yield and bioactive compound production in L. esculentum Mill. These findings suggest the great potential of C. etunicatum KS-02 for tomato cultivation without the potential negative effects induced by the high use of synthetic fertilizer.

Keywords: Antioxidants, Carotenoid, Lycopene, Phytochemical, Tomato productivity