Abstract
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are widely distributed in nature. They live in the roots of higher plants, in a symbiotic relationship. In this study, five commercial species of yams (Dioscorea spp.) were inoculated with six species of AMF, Glomus clarum, G. etunicatum, G. fasciculatum, Gigaspora sp., G. mosseae, and Acaulospora sp., in field cultivation conditions to investigate the influence of AMF inoculation on tuber weights and secondary metabolite content in yam tubers. The results showed that mycorrhizae formation rates ranged from 63.33% to 90%. G. etunicatum inoculation treatment increased the tube weights of the five species of yam tubers by 39%, 35%, 20%, 56%, and 40% for Tainung 1, Tainung 2, Ercih, Zihyuxieshu, and Tainung 5, respectively. The content of secondary metabolites, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanin, was significantly increased by the AMF treatment in tuber flesh and peel of all the tested yam species. Specifically, the maximums exchange of secondary metabolite contents increased to 40%, 42%, and 106% for polyphenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanin, respectively, in the tuber fresh. This study revealed that different species of yam had varying degrees of affinity with various AMF species; selecting effective AMF species is necessary to facilitate yam growth and improve the quality and quantity of yam tubers.
Highlights
The symbiotic association between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and the roots of plants is widespread in the natural environment
All six AMF species were able to form a symbiotic relationship with the host yams, indicating that these AMF were high compatible with the host yams
The tuber weights of Tainung 1 inoculated with Glomus clarum (Gc), G. etunicatum (Ge), and G. mosseae (Gm) and those of Tainung 2 inoculated with Gc, Ge, G. fasciculatum (Gf), Gigaspora sp. (Gg), and Gm were significantly greater than the weights of the control group (P < 0.05)
Summary
The symbiotic association between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and the roots of plants is widespread in the natural environment. AMF establish symbiosis with approximately 80% of the vascular plant species in all terrestrial biomes (Smith et al, 2010). AMF are of great ecological importance, because arbuscular mycorrhizae are involved in the most widespread form of plant symbiosis and often improve plant productivity (Fedderman et al, 2010). AMF benefit their host principally by increasing the uptake of relatively immobile phosphate ions (Miransari et al, 2009). How to cite this article Lu et al (2015), The influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculation on yam (Dioscorea spp.) tuber weights and secondary metabolite content.
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