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. 2022 Apr 11;22(1):188.
doi: 10.1186/s12870-022-03514-y.

Accumulation in nutrient acquisition strategies of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots in poor and heterogeneous soils of karst shrub ecosystems

Yueming Liang  1 , Fujing Pan  2 , Zhongcheng Jiang  1 , Qiang Li  3   4 , Junbing Pu  1 , Kunping Liu  5
Affiliations

Accumulation in nutrient acquisition strategies of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots in poor and heterogeneous soils of karst shrub ecosystems

Yueming Liang et al. BMC Plant Biol. .

Abstract

Background: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and roots play important roles in plant nutrient acquisition, especially in nutrient poor and heterogeneous soils. However, whether an accumulation strategy of AM fungi and root exists in such soils of karst shrubland ecosystems remains unclear. Root traits related to nutrient acquisition (root biomass, AM colonisation, root acid phosphatase activity and N2 fixation) were measured in two N2-fixing plants (i.e. Albizia odoratissima (Linn. f.) Benth. and Cajanus cajan (Linn.) Millsp.) that were grown in heterogeneous or homogeneous nutrient (ammonium) soil with and without AM fungi inoculation.

Results: Both of these plants had higher AM colonisation, root biomass and relative growth rate (RGR), but lower N2 fixation and root acid phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere in the heterogeneous soil environment, than that in the homogeneous soil environment. Plants grown in the AM fungi-inoculated heterogeneous soil environment had increased root biomass and root acid phosphatase activity compared with those grown in soil without inoculation. AM colonisation was negatively correlated with the N2 fixation rate of A. odoratissima, while it was not significantly correlated with the root phosphatase activity.

Conclusions: Our results indicated that enhanced AM symbiosis and root biomass increased the absorptive surfaces for nutrient acquisition, highlighting the accumulation strategies of AM and root traits for plant nutrient acquisition in nutrient poor and heterogeneous soils of the karst shrubland ecosystem.

Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi; Karst; Nutrient acquisition strategies; Root trait; Shrubland ecosystem; Soil nutrient heterogeneity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Biomass (a), relative growth rate (RGR) (b) and root:shoot (c) response of two N2-fixing plant species (Albizia odoratissima and Cajanus cajan) grown in different soil conditions (ho, homogeneous; he, heterogenous; AMF, inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; non-AMF, not inoculated)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Relationship between root biomass and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonisation of two N2-fixing plant species (Albizia odoratissima and Cajanus cajan) grown in different soil conditions (ho, homogeneous; he, heterogenous; AMF, inoculated; non-AMF, not inoculated)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Relationship between the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation and relative growth rate (a); relative growth rate and root phosphatase activity phosphatases (b); N2 fixation and relative growth rate (c); root biomass and relative growth rate (d) of two N2-fixing plant species (Albizia odoratissima and Cajanus cajan) grown in different soil conditions (ho, homogeneous; he, heterogenous; AMF, inoculated; non-AMF, not inoculated)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonisation (a), N2 fixation (b) and root phosphatase activity (RPA; c) response of two N2-fixing plant species (Albizia odoratissima and Cajanus cajan) grown in different soil conditions (ho, homogeneous; he, heterogenous; AMF, inoculated; non-AMF, not inoculated)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Relationship among arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation and root phosphatase activities (a); N2 fixation rates and root phosphatase activities (b); arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation and N2 fixation rate (c) of two N2-fixing plant species (Albizia odoratissima and Cajanus cajan) grown in different soil conditions (ho, homogeneous; he, heterogenous; AMF, inoculated; non-AMF, not inoculat
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Schematic representation (not drawn to scale) of the pots used in the experiment according to García-Palacios et al. [6] revision. In the heterogeneous treatments, a plastic cylinder was filled with the nitrogen nutrient
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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