Abstract
The mycorrhizal status of plants in the Chenopodiaceae is not well studied with a few controversial reports. This study examined arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonization and growth response of Ceratocarpus arenarius in the field and a greenhouse inoculation trial. The colonization rate of AM fungi in C. arenarius in in-growth field cores was low (around 15%). Vesicles and intraradical hyphae were present during all growth stages, but no arbuscules were observed. Sequencing analysis of the large ribosomal rDNA subunit detected four culturable Glomus species, G. intraradices, G. mosseae, G. etunicatum and G. microaggregatum together with eight unculturable species belong to the Glomeromycota in the root system of C. arenarius collected from the field. These results establish the mycotrophic status of C. arenarius. Both in the field and in the greenhouse inoculation trial, the growth of C. arenarius was stimulated by the indigenous AM fungal community and the inoculated AM fungal isolates, respectively, but the P uptake and concentration of the mycorrhizal plants did not increase significantly over the controls in both experiments. Furthermore, the AM fungi significantly increased seed production. Our results suggest that an alternative reciprocal benefit to carbon-phosphorus trade-off between AM fungi and the chenopod plant might exist in the extremely arid environment.
Highlights
Plant species belonging to the Chenopodiaceae show high drought and salinity resistance and tolerance to nutrient deficiency, and often grow in psammophytic or halophytic plant communities
Vesicles and intraradical hyphae were detected in the root systems of C. arenarius in mycorrhizal treatments from the field experiment (Experiment 2) (Figure 1B) and the pot inoculation experiment (Experiment 3) (Figure 1C), and the presence of mycorrhiza (F%) in the roots of C. arenarius from mycorrhizal treatments were 3.75 and 5.25 times higher than in nonmycorrhizal treatments, respectively
This study observed the presence of an Arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) fungal community in the root systems of plants C. arenarius plant from both the field and controlled pot experiments using microscopy and molecular probing approaches
Summary
Plant species belonging to the Chenopodiaceae show high drought and salinity resistance and tolerance to nutrient deficiency, and often grow in psammophytic or halophytic plant communities. They are pioneer plants in colonization and settlement of harsh edaphic environments which are affected by salt or drought, and play crucial roles in erosion control and rehabilitation of desert ecosystem. Chenopods are generally regarded as non- AM plants for the arbuscules are very rarely observed in their roots [8]. Aleman and Tiver (2010) observed the characteristically structures of the symbionts with both arbuscules and vesicles present in some South Australian species of Chenopodiaceae [14], though their frequency of occurrence was relatively low
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