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Indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can alleviate salt stress and promote growth of cotton and maize in saline fields

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Abstract

Aims

The function of indigenous mycorrhizal fungi in improving crop growth is not well addressed because of methodological limitations. In this study, we determined the effects of the indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal community on the growth responses and salt tolerance of cotton and maize.

Methods

Through a 2-year field trial with in-growth microcosms constructed by polyvinylchloride (PVC) tube cores and 30-μm nylon mesh that were buried in different saline soils, two core treatments, static (freely allowed AM fungal colonization) and vibrating (patting the top core edge twice every day to break any extraradical hyphae that intends to access into the core to reduce AM fungal colonization), were applied in field conditions.

Results

The results showed that vibration did not affect the growth of the control non-mycorrhizal plant, sugar beet, but significantly affected the growth of the mycorrhizal plants, cotton and maize. These data indicated that such core systems could provide a reliable method to quantify the functions of the AM fungal community in situ. Mycorrhizal colonization of cotton and maize significantly declined in the vibrating treatment compared to the static treatment. Phosphorus (P) uptake and biomass production of cotton and maize were significantly higher in the static than the vibrating. The indigenous AM fungal community promoted leaf proline accumulation in cotton and a higher K+/Na+ ratio via selective preferential uptake of K+ over Na+. These effects and enhanced P uptake derived from AM fungi were related to alleviating salt stress and promoted the growth of cotton and maize in saline soils.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrated that indigenous AM fungi play a role in improving crop growth by alleviating the harmful effects of high salinity in intensified cropping systems.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (U1403285, 41461051), the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201103007) and the Innovative Group Grant of the National Science Foundation of China (31421092).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Resources, Environment and Food Security, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Shenglin Liu, Xiuli Guo & Gu Feng

  2. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Shenglin Liu, Xiuli Guo & Gu Feng

  3. Institute of Nuclear Technology and Biotechnology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Science, Urumqi, China

    Baidengsha Maimaitiaili

  4. Isotope Institute, Henan Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450052, People’s Republic of China

    Jialin Fan

  5. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Eveleigh, NSW, 2015, Australia

    Xinhua He

  6. School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Xinhua He

  7. Agricultural College of Shihezi University, Shihezi, China

    Xiuli Guo

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  1. Shenglin Liu
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  2. Xiuli Guo
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  3. Gu Feng
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  4. Baidengsha Maimaitiaili
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  5. Jialin Fan
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  6. Xinhua He
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gu Feng.

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Responsible Editor: Tatsuhiro Ezawa.

Highlights

• We quantified the role of indigenous AM fungi in promoting crop growth in saline field.

• AM fungi improved P uptake, Na+/K+ ratio, proline or/and soluble sugar accumulation.

• Indigenous AM fungi alleviate high salinity stress of crop in intensified farming system.

• The in-growth core system was modified using a non-mycorrhizal plant species Beta vulgaris.

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Liu, S., Guo, X., Feng, G. et al. Indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can alleviate salt stress and promote growth of cotton and maize in saline fields. Plant Soil 398, 195–206 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2656-5

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