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A comparison of fungal communities in straw decomposing in different soil types and under different cultivation practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

R. M. Bowen  and
S. H. T. Harper
R. M. Bowen
Affiliation:
Soils and Crop Production Division, AFRC Institute of Arable Crops Research, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, U.K.
S. H. T. Harper
Affiliation:
Soils and Crop Production Division, AFRC Institute of Arable Crops Research, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, U.K.
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Synopsis

The composition of the mycoflora growing on wheat straw decomposing in three arable soil types and following two methods of incorporation was monitored throughout one cropping season. Fusarium species, Trichoderma species and Chaetomium globosum were the most frequently isolated cellulose-decomposers during the autumn and early spring on all treatments. Around some straws the brown colour of lignin was replaced by a dark red coloration: if this was cleared subsequently, it was considered to indicate the presence of lignin-decomposing species. Colonies of a Typhula sp., a lignin-decomposing basidiomycete, developed from some of the straws surrounded by cleared zones. In late spring more lignin-decomposing basidiomycetes were isolated, none of which had previously been described on, nor isolated from, wheat straw decomposing in the field. These basidiomycetes, characterised by slower extension rates than Typhula, were more frequent on straw ploughed-in at two sites. Typhula was more numerous where the straw had been incorporated by tined implements. The composition of the cellulolytic fungal community differed between treatments. Inoculation of straw with pure and mixed cultures of Fusarium culmorum, Trichoderma viride, Chaetomium globosum and the lignin-decomposing basidiomycetes had varied effects on the decay rate.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 94: Fungi and Ecological Disturbance , 1988 , pp. 127 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1988

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