Re-visiting use of Penicillium bilaii with phosphorus fertilization of hard red spring wheat

Abstract

Penicillium bilaii is a fungus that lives in association with plant roots and has been shown to increase phosphorus (P) solubility and uptake by some crops. A series of 47 experiments with hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that were carried out in the three prairie provinces between 1989 and 1995 and included treatment with P. bilaii as a main plot (with or without) and four rates of fertilizer P (0, 4.4, 8.7 and 13.1 kg P ha-1) as subplots were statistically analyzed to ascertain whether use of P. bilaii resulted in increases in both yield and P uptake by wheat. Of the 47 experiments, response to fertilizer P was obtained in 33 experiments and to P. bilaii in 14, in five of which the response was positive and nine resulted in yield decreases. These responses could not be attributed either to extractable P soil concentration, soil organic matter (SOM) or texture, or weather conditions and are considered random events. Overall, P uptake was a function of fertilizer P rate only.Key words: Seed-treatment, seed yield, P uptake, P use efficiency