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Student Work

In 2026, students at Cégep de Sainte-Foy (Québec City, Canada) successfully cultured arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Growing mycorrhizal fungi is now within reach of college- and university-level students. Highly costly equipment and specialized labor are no longer necessary, since the work is carried out without sterility, using a stereo microscope or a “basic” microscope.

Students at Cégep de Sainte-Foy, in the course “Plant Culture and Applied Mycology” taught by Professor Joëlle Rondeau, successfully cultured the fungus Rhizophagus irregularis with the host plant Plantago lanceolata as part of their hands-on coursework. They used a slightly adapted protocol in order to fit it into the school calendar.

The author, Louis Paré, explaining the protocol to students in the Plant Culture and Applied Mycology course taught by Professor Joëlle Rondeau.
A student preparing the two-compartment dish with vermiculite and superabsorbent polymer.
The inoculated plants are placed in culture, alongside other cultures related to their coursework.
The Plantago lanceolata plants are developing satisfactorily.
The stereo microscope is enough to confirm the cultures’ success and observe the formation of new spores in the polymer.

Louis Paré thanks Cégep de Sainte-Foy and Professor Joëlle Rondeau for their support in teaching the cultivation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

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