**8. ECM fungi as a source of phosphorous mobilization in forestry**

About 97% of phosphorous present in agricultural soil is not available to plants due to its organic or inorganic forms, so fungi are a major source of phosphorous; they provide phosphorous by producing a large amount of acid phosphate, alkaline, and other forms of acid. Different groups of fungi perform these functions and enhance the growth of plants such as *Gliocladium, Penicillium, Trichoderma*, and *Chaetomium*. Using 45–70 kg phosphorous enhances the yield of different crops by 15–30% with fungi as a mobilizer. The small concentration of organic acid mandatory to mix phosphorous ranges from 0.5 to 0.6%. The influence of microbes was greater in the fungal inoculated plants as compared to plant input. Fungal extracellular enzymes were more effective than their intracellular complement [14].
