Niger. J. Mycol. Vol.6 , 37- 47 EFFECT OF ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAE FUNGUS, SPENT MUSHROOM COMPOST AND POULTRY MANUREON DROUGHT AND LEAF CURL RESISTANCE OF OKRO(ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS) Jonathan S.G a ., Olawuyi O.J b and Babalola B.J a a Mycology & Biotechnology Unit, Department of Botany & Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. b Genetics & Molecular Biology Unit, Department of Botany& Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. ABSTRACT Field experiment was conducted from December to April 2013 at the Botanical Nursery, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The aim of this study was to investigate the interactive effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (Glomus mosseae),spent mushroom compost (Pleurotus pulmonarius) and poultry manure on drought tolerance and leaf curl resistance of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) genotypes; NG/TO/02/12/156, NG/OA/03/12/157, NG/OA/05/12/159, IJ-OND Okr 1 and IJ-OND Okr2. The treatments were laid out factorially in a complete randomized design with three replications. The result shows that the effect of replicating okra accessions and the interactions of replicate x treatment were non- significant (P>0.01) for all yield traits, drought tolerance and leaf curl resistance. On the other hand, the bio-inoculants treatment was highly resistant to viral leaf curl and drought, while the effects of replicate and interactions of replicate x treatment were not significant. The resistance ability to drought effect in second replicate was significantly different from the first and third replicates which are not significantly different from each other, but the drought tolerance at 2 and 4 WAP were significantly higher than at 6 WAP. There was no significant effect of replicate and different growth stages on leaf curl infection. The combination of G. mosseae, P. pulmonarius and Poultry manure treated plants for drought tolerance and leaf curl resistance were significantly higher than the other treatments including the control, while the combination of P. pulmonarius and Poultry manure was the most resistant to leaf curl infection. Therefore, AMF treated plants and their interactions with other bio-inoculants influenced the drought tolerance and leaf curl resistance compared to untreated plants. Keywords: Abelmoschus esculentus, bio-inoculants, leaf curl, drought, interactions. INTRODUCTION Okra Abelmoschus esculentus L. (Moench) is one of the most essential vegetable crops grown in the tropics, subtropical and warm temperate regions around the world (Joshi and Hardas, 1953; Baloch, 1994; Gopalan et al., 2007). It belongs to family Malvaceae, known as lady’s finger in English and Ilá in Yoruba, Nigerian Journal of Mycology Vol.6 (2014) 37