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Mycorrhizae, biocides, and biocontrol. 4. Response of a mixed culture of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and host plant to three fungicides

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Abstract

The effects of three commonly used fungicides on the colonization and sporulation by a mixture of three arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi consisting of Glomus etunicatum (Becker & Gerd.), Glomus mosseae (Nicol. & Gerd.) Gerd. & Trappe, and Gigaspora rosea (Nicol. & Schenck) in symbiosis with pea plants and the resulting response of the host-plant were examined. Benomyl, PCNB, and captan were applied as soil drenches at a rate of 20 mg active ingredient kg-1 soil 2 weeks after transplanting pea seedlings in a silty clay-loam soil containing the mixed inocula of AM fungi (AM plants). Effects of fungicides were compared to untreated plants that were inoculated with fungi (AM control). The effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on plant growth was also examined by including nonmycorrhizal, non-fungicide-treated plants (non-AM control). Fungicides or inoculation with AM fungi had only a small effect on the final shoot weights of pea plants, but had greater effects on root length and seed yield. AM control plants had higher seed yields and lower root lengths than the corresponding non-AM plants, and the fungicide-treated AM plants had intermediate yields and root lengths. Seed N and P contents were likewise highest in AM control plants, lowest in non-AM plants, and intermediate in fungicide-treated AM plants. All three fungicides depressed the proportion (%) of root length colonized by AM fungi, but these differences did not translate to reductions in the total root length that was colonized, since roots were longer in the fungicide-treated AM plants. Pea plants apparently compensated for the reduction in AM-fungal metabolism due to fungicides by increasing root growth. Fungicides affected the population of the three fungi as determined by sporulation at the final harvest. Captan significantly reduced the number, relative abundance, and relative volume of G. rosea spores in the final population relative to the controls. The relative volume of G. etunicatum spores was greater in all the fungicide-treated soils, while G. mosseae relative volumes were only greater in the captan-treated soil. These findings show that fungicides can alter the species composition of an AM-fungal community. The results also show that AM fungi can increase seed yield without enhancing the vegetative shoot growth of host plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agriculture Research and Education Service, Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, 3420 NW Orchard Avenue, 97330, Corvallis, OR, USA

    R. P. Schreiner & G. J. Bethlenfalvay

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  1. R. P. Schreiner
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  2. G. J. Bethlenfalvay
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Correspondence to R. P. Schreiner.

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Schreiner, R.P., Bethlenfalvay, G.J. Mycorrhizae, biocides, and biocontrol. 4. Response of a mixed culture of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and host plant to three fungicides. Biol Fertil Soils 23, 189–195 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00336062

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00336062

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