Producers often realize reductions in growth rates, seedling vigor, and lint yield of cotton grown on soils previously fallowed. This "fallow syndrome" may partially be explained by a decrease in vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorrhiza inoculum when soils are fallowed. Research on an Acuff loam soil in Lubbock, Texas, showed a significant difference in percent VA mycorrhizal infection of thirty-day-old cotton roots grown in soils continuously cropped compared to soils previously fallowed. Significant differences were also observed in total leaf area and dry weight, and in total phosphorous and nitrogen. Reduced nutrient uptake and poor seedling vigor are due to the absence of a symbiotic relationship between cotton and VA mycorrhiza.