Abstract
The impact of host mycotrophy on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) markers was studied in a temperate agricultural soil cropped with mycorrhizal barley, flax, reed canary-grass, timothy, caraway and quinoa and non-mycorrhizal buckwheat, dyer's woad, nettle and false flax. The percentage of AMF root colonization, the numbers of infective propagules by the Most Probable Number (MPN) method, and the amounts of signature Phospholipid Fatty Acid (PLFA) 16:1ω5 and Neutral Lipid Fatty Acid (NLFA) 16:1ω5 were measured as AMF markers. Crop had a significant impact on MPN levels of AMF, on NLFA 16:1ω5 levels in bulk and rhizosphere soil and on PLFA 16:1ω5 levels in rhizosphere soil. Reed canary-grass induced the highest levels of AMF markers. Mycorrhizal markers were at low levels in all non-mycorrhizal crops. NLFA 16:1ω5 and the ratio of NLFA to PLFA 16:1ω5 from bulk soil are adequate methods as indicators of AMF biomass in soil.
Highlights
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is found in the large majority of terrestrial plants (Newman and Reddell 1987) and has been estimated to occur in almost a quarter of a million plant species (Gadkar et al 2001)
Soil from reed canary-grass had the highest levels of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) colonization, Most Probable Number (MPN) propagule numbers, and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) 16:1ω5 and neutral lipid fatty acid (NLFA) 16:1ω5 contents
Crop species had a significant impact on AMF infective propagule numbers measured by MPN, NLFA
Summary
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is found in the large majority of terrestrial plants (Newman and Reddell 1987) and has been estimated to occur in almost a quarter of a million plant species (Gadkar et al 2001). Other beneficial impacts of AMF are for example alleviation of plant stress caused by abiotic (Evelin et al 2009) and biotic (Pozo et al 2010) factors and stabilization of soil aggregates (Rillig 2004) by producing the glycoprotein glomalin (Wright and Upadhyaya 1996). Common agricultural practices, such as fertilization, frequent soil disturbance and monoculture affect indigenous AMF negatively (Douds and Millner 1999).
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