Nutrient and growth interactions in soybeans colonized withGlomus fasciculatum andRhizobium japonicum

Abstract

Glycine max (L. Merr. cv. Amsoy 71) plants were grown in a greenhouse in a sand/perlite medium low in plant-available N and P. Plants were either inoculated with a vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungus alone, a strain ofRhizobium japonicum alone, both endophytes together or were left non-inoculated to serve as a control. All combinations received a N-and P-free nutrient solution. Nodulated plants contained 4 to 5 times the phytomass of non-inoculated controls, and plants colonized with both the VAM fungus and Rhizobium were 18% greater in dry weight than nodulated, non-VAM plants due to a positive VAM times Rhizobium interaction. Nitrogen fixation, calculated from C2H4 and H2 data, was significantly higher in the tripartite symbiosis, with 80% of the increase attributable to increased nodule mass and 20% due to increases in specific nodule activity. Colonization by the VAM fungus and the development of vesicles increased significantly following nodulation. The synergistic interactions between the microsymbionts suggests that the response of the host to dual colonization is complex and depends on a balance between the three members of the symbiosis.