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Arbuscular mycorrhiza improve growth, nitrogen uptake, and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat grown under elevated CO2

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Abstract

Effects of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Rhizophagus irregularis on plant growth, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) accumulation, and partitioning was investigated in Triticum aestivum L. plants grown under elevated CO2 in a pot experiment. Wheat plants inoculated or not inoculated with the AM fungus were grown in two glasshouse cells with different CO2 concentrations (400 and 700 ppm) for 10 weeks. A 15N isotope labeling technique was used to trace plant N uptake. Results showed that elevated CO2 increased AM fungal colonization. Under CO2 elevation, AM plants had higher C concentration and higher plant biomass than the non-AM plants. CO2 elevation did not affect C and N partitioning in plant organs, while AM symbiosis increased C and N allocation into the roots. In addition, plant C and N accumulation, 15N recovery rate, and N use efficiency (NUE) were significantly higher in AM plants than in non-AM controls under CO2 enrichment. It is concluded that AM symbiosis favors C and N partitioning in roots, increases C accumulation and N uptake, and leads to greater NUE in wheat plants grown at elevated CO2.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZZD-EW-TZ-16) and the China Scholarship Council. We are thankful for the assistance provided by Xiangnan Li and Fan Fan in the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, People’s Republic of China

    Xiancan Zhu, Fengbin Song & Shengqun Liu

  2. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, DK-2630, Denmark

    Xiancan Zhu & Fulai Liu

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  1. Xiancan Zhu
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  2. Fengbin Song
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  3. Shengqun Liu
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  4. Fulai Liu
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Correspondence to Fulai Liu.

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Zhu, X., Song, F., Liu, S. et al. Arbuscular mycorrhiza improve growth, nitrogen uptake, and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat grown under elevated CO2 . Mycorrhiza 26, 133–140 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-015-0654-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-015-0654-3

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