Abstract
Most plants are usually colonized with arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) in the fields. AMF absorb mineral nutrients, especially phosphate, from the soil and transfer them to the host plants. Inoculation with exotic AMF is thought to be effective when indigenous AMF performance is low; however, there is no method for evaluating the performance of indigenous AMF. In this study, we developed a method to investigate the performance of indigenous AMF in promoting plant growth. As Lotus japonicus mutant (str) that are unable to form functional mycorrhizal roots were considered to be symbiosis negative for indigenous mycorrhizal performance, we examined the growth ratios of wild-type and str mycorrhizal mutant using 24 soils. Each soil had its own unique indigenous mycorrhizal performance, which was not directly related to the colonization level of indigenous AMF or soil phosphate level. The low indigenous mycorrhizal performance could not be compensated by the inoculation of exotic AMF. Importantly, indigenous mycorrhizal performance was never negative; however, the inoculation of exotic AMF into the same soil led to both positive and negative performances. These results suggest that indigenous mycorrhizal performance is affected by soil management history and is basically harmless to the plant.
Highlights
Most plants, including many economically important crops, are usually colonized with arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) in the subphylum Glomeromycotina [1] in the fields
We developed a method to evaluate the performance of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in promoting plant growth in pot culture
We investigated whether an AMF inoculum was effective in promoting plant growth in soils that were assessed as having low indigenous mycorrhizal performance
Summary
Most plants, including many economically important crops, are usually colonized with arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) in the subphylum Glomeromycotina [1] in the fields. Inoculation of AMF can substantially reduce P fertilizer application to Welsh onions and lead to the achievement of a marketable yield under field conditions [13]; it remains debatable whether mycorrhizal fungi increase the transport of P to plants directly [14]. It is expected that P fertilization of the next-year cultivation can be reduced by half [18] Another approach consists in inoculating the soil with exotic AMF culture lines. We developed a method to evaluate the performance of indigenous AMF in promoting plant growth in pot culture. We investigated whether an AMF inoculum was effective in promoting plant growth in soils that were assessed as having low indigenous mycorrhizal performance
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