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Mycorrhizae in sustainable agriculture. I. Effects on seed yield and soil aggregation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Gabor J. Bethlenfalvay  and
José-Miguel Barea
Gabor J. Bethlenfalvay
Affiliation:
Plant Physiologist, USDAARS, Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory (HCRL), Corvallis, OR 97330;
José-Miguel Barea
Affiliation:
Head, Microbiology Department, Estación Experimental del Zaidfn (EEZ), 18008 Granada, Spain.
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Abstract

Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi colonize plant roots and the surrounding bulk soil. They transport mineral nutrients from the soil to the plant and carbon compounds from the plant to the soil, and have pervasive effects on plant form and function and on the composition of the soil microbiota. This experiment evaluated VAM effects on plants and soil to determine if VAM fungi mediate a relationship between changes in seed yield and soil aggregation. In a pot experiment with peas, an isolate of the VAM fungus Glomus mosseae (Nicol & Gerd.) Gerd. and Trappe did not significantly affect seed yield (8%), but improved soil aggregation by 400% in one soil, a gray silt-loam high in organic matter (OM) and phosphorus. In another soil, a yellow clay-loam low in OM and phosphorus, seed yield was enhanced significantly (57%), but there was only a small change (50%) in aggregation. The results suggest that carbon allocation between the plant (measured as seed yield) and the soil (measured as the formation of water-stable aggregates) is influenced by this VAM fungus. The soil appeared to gain carbon at the expense of carbon lost by the plant Mycorrhizal fungi thus seem to affect two biologically controlled aspects of sustainable agriculture: plant production and soil quality.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 157 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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