Abstract
The effect of root exudates from P-deficient onion on root colonisation by an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus was examined. Onions (Allium cepa L.) were grown in solution culture at phosphorus concentrations of 0 (P0) and 2 (P2) mg P l–1. Root exudates were collected and fractionated with Amberlite XAD-4 resin to give EtOH and water soluble fractions. Onions inoculated with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita Becker & Hall were grown with or without (control) root exudates and exudate fractions in a growth chamber. After 24 days, arbuscular mycorrhiza levels and appressoria formation had increased in plants treated with P0-root exudate or the P0-EtOH fraction when compared to corresponding P2 treatments or control plants. P0 and P2 water-soluble fractions did not significantly affect either aspect of fungal development. These results suggest that hydrophobic compounds found in root exudates from P-deficient onion increase appressorium formation and, therefore, enhance mycorrhiza development.
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Accepted: 2 June 1998
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Tawaraya, K., Hashimoto, K. & Wagatsuma, T. Effect of root exudate fractions from P-deficient and P-sufficient onion plants on root colonisation by the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita . Mycorrhiza 8, 67–70 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s005720050214
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s005720050214