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Soil plant-available phosphorus levels and maize genotypes determine the phosphorus acquisition efficiency and contribution of mycorrhizal pathway

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Abstract

Aims

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi play important roles in plant phosphorus (P) accumulation. The aim of this study was to uncover how and to what extent soil plant-available P levels and maize genotypes influence the contribution of mycorrhizal P uptake pathway to plant P nutrition.

Methods

We selected an old genotype HMY and a modern genotype XY335, combined with 32P labeling and qPCR to quantify P uptake efficiency of the direct pathway (DP) and the mycorrhizal pathway (MP) at three Olsen-P levels: 4.5 (low), 8 (medium) and 50 (high) mg kg−1.

Results

The P uptake efficiency ratio PAE-MP/PAE-DP was highest in the treatment with medium Olsen-P, and was correlated positively with MP contribution. The traits of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, such as percent colonization, hyphal length density, P uptake per unit hyphae length, and the expression of the mycorrhiza-specific P transporter ZmPT1;6 were higher in XY335 than HMY in high-P soil, which was in accordance with the importance of the MP contribution.

Conclusions

Greater mycorrhizal responsiveness in the modern maize genotype than the old genotype under high P soil condition is related to higher P uptake efficiency of MP than DP; the inherent potential of MP can be maximized by managing soil plant P availability to achieve optimal P supply in intensive farming.

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Abbreviations

AMF:

arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

DP:

direct P uptake pathway

MP:

mycorrhizal P uptake pathway

MGR:

mycorrhizal growth response

MPR:

mycorrhizal phosphorus response

NM:

non-mycorrhizal

PAE:

phosphorus acquisition efficiency

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1703232) and National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFD0200200). We thank Professor Andrew Smith from The University of Adelaide for kindly revising the early manuscript version.

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Author notes

  1. Qun Chu and Lin Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Qun Chu, Lin Zhang, Lixing Yuan, Fanjun Chen, Fusuo Zhang & Gu Feng

  2. Institute of Irrigation and Soil Science, Xinjiang, Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Science, Shihezi, 832000, People’s Republic of China

    Jianwei Zhou

  3. Soil Science & Plant Nutrition, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, 6009, Australia

    Zed Rengel

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  1. Qun Chu
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  2. Lin Zhang
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Correspondence to Gu Feng.

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Chu, Q., Zhang, L., Zhou, J. et al. Soil plant-available phosphorus levels and maize genotypes determine the phosphorus acquisition efficiency and contribution of mycorrhizal pathway. Plant Soil 449, 357–371 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04494-4

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