Soil temperature, mycorrhizal infection and nodulation of Medicago truncatula and Trifolium subterraneum

Abstract

Establishment of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in plant roots involves a pre-infection phase of propagule germination, hyphal growth and appressorium formation, followed by growth of the fungus within the root. The effect of soil temperature on the pre-infection stage was examined by counting the numbers of fungal “entry-points” on the main roots of Medicago truncatula and Trifolium subterraneum, grown at soil temperatures of 12°, 16°, 20° and 25°C for periods up to 12 days. Increased root temperature was positively associated with increased numbers of “entry-points”. This effect was more marked between 12° and 16°C than at higher temperatures, as shown by comparing plants at the same stage of development (emergence of spade leaf) and by calculating the results as entry points per cm root. The first root nodules appeared sooner at higher temperatures (20° and 25°), but subsequent development of nodules (measured as nodule number and aggregate volume of nodules per plant, up to 21 days) was best at 16°C for both host Rhizobium combinations in non-sterile and autoclaved soil. There was no evidence that competition between mycorrhizal fungi and Rhizobium for infection sites occurred. A method of obtaining numbers of infective propagules of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in soil is described.