Importance of soil amendments with biochar and/or fungi to mitigate aluminum toxicity in tamarind ( L.) on an acidic soil: A greenhouse study.

L. is a forest plant species widely used in semi-arid regions and has an important socio-economic role. A 90 d greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of soil amendments with biochar and/or three Fungi (AMF) strains; (Rf), (Ra), (Ri) on grown under aluminum stress. The amendments consisted of 5% biochar and 20 g kg AMF as (i) control; (ii) biochar; (iii) biochar + Rf; (iv) biochar + Ra; (v) biochar + Ri; (vi) Rf; (vii) Ra; (viii) Ri. The treatments with biochar significantly ( < 0.05) increased soil pH and reduced the content of soil exchangeable Al relative to the control and exclusive AMF treatments. All the treatments improved total nitrogen and phosphorus uptake by roots and shoot of and resulted in improved plant growth and root/shoot dry weight. The ability of biochar to enhance the soil's water-holding capacity played a key role in improving the intensity of mycorrhization. Overall, biochar amendments significantly improved the photosynthetic potential of and the activities of antioxidant enzymes compared to other treatments. Thus, the combined effects of enhanced (a) soil physicochemical parameters, (b) mycorrhization, (c) nutrient uptake, (d) photosynthetic potential, and (e) antioxidant activities played an important role in mitigating Al-related stress to improve the growth of . Therefore, the application of biochar in combination with AMFs can serve as a strategy for ensuring plant biodiversity in acid and Al-toxic soils in arid and semi-arid regions in Africa.