Abstract
In pea (Pisum sativum L.) production, Didymella pinodes (Berk. & A. Bloxam) Petr. is the most damaging aerial pathogen globally. In two completely randomized pot experiments with four replicates, we studied the effects of D. pinodes infection interaction with three symbiotic treatments (Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and co-inoculation of both) and a non-symbiotic control on one or two pea cultivars. Grain yield and yield components of pea, uptakes and physiological efficiencies of N and P and nitrogen fixation were recorded. The results show that there were significant interaction effects among treatments. Therefore, productivity of crops and their uptakes and efficiencies of N and P are dependent on plant health conditions, effectiveness of microbial symbionts and response of pea genotypes. For cv. Protecta inoculated with both symbionts, pathogen infection compared to healthy plants significantly enhanced P acquisition. Overall, plants inoculated with rhizobia alone had higher grain yield by 20–30% and nitrogen fixation by 20–25% than in dual symbiosis independent of plant health conditions. In conclusion, aerial pathogen, pea genotypes and microbial symbionts interactions modified N and P uptake and their efficiencies, which can lead to improving final grain yield quantity and quality in a sustainable farming system.
Highlights
IntroductionAscochyta blight, caused by Didimella pinodes (syn. Mycosphaerella pinodes)
Pea is often considered as an efficient nitrogen-fixing crop that can accumulate more than 300 kg N ha−1 in the aboveground parts in symbiotic associations with rhizobia [3,4]
The plants were treated with or without pathogen infections as well as with five different NP sources including an unfertilized control that was merely used as a baseline to compare the other four NP groups and assess their effect, arbuscular mycorrhiza fungus Funneliformis mosseae (M), Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viceae (R), dual inoculation with F. mosseae and R. leguminosarum (MR) and synthetic mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization (SF)
Summary
Ascochyta blight, caused by Didimella pinodes (syn. Mycosphaerella pinodes) It causes up to 50% [1] and in severe cases up to 70% pea yield losses through reduction of photosynthetic efficiency [2] In addition to such pathogen attacks, production of pea can be co-limited by the availability of nutrients when growings in nitrogen (N) and/or phosphorus (P) deficient soils. In such soils, pea is often considered as an efficient nitrogen-fixing crop that can accumulate more than 300 kg N ha−1 in the aboveground parts in symbiotic associations with rhizobia [3,4]. This legume crop can form mutualistic associations with arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi, which play vital roles in influencing the availability of plant nutrients with low mobility in soil solution such as P [5], uptake of water [6] and N [7] and promotion of plant growth due to improved uptake of nutrients [8]
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