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Mycorrhizal Fungi: Use in Sustainable Agriculture and Land Restoration pp 17–31Cite as

Assessing Economic Benefits of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi as a Potential Indicator of Soil Health

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Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 41))

Abstract

A measure of the presence, function and economic value of arbuscular mycorrhizas is proposed as a potential indicator of soil health. The roles of hyphae in soil include enhancing the efficiency of plant access to nutrients, especially phosphorus, facilitating plant access to water under water-limiting conditions, protection of soil organic matter, and strengthening resilience against disease. As such, mycorrhizas can influence economic benefits through their direct and indirect effects on plants associated with chemical, physical and biological components of soil fertility. Although the presence of mycorrhizas is pivotal to many soil processes, their potential contributions can be overridden by soil management decisions that do not take them into account. Nevertheless, it is difficult to quantify the economic benefits of mycorrhizas in agricultural ecosystems. Risk minimisation strategies can be used to deal with some or all of the factors that impede realistic economic valuation of mycorrhizas. However, without even rudimentary local knowledge of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in agricultural ecosystems, there is potential for management practices to fail to consider fully, and consequently fail to capture, benefits from these widespread and potentially beneficial soil organisms especially if their contribution is difficult to quantify.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009, Australia

    L. K. Abbott & S. Lumley

  2. Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009, Australia

    L. K. Abbott & S. Lumley

Authors
  1. L. K. Abbott
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  2. S. Lumley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. K. Abbott .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environment, and UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, West Australia, Australia

    Zakaria M. Solaiman

  2. School of Earth and Environment, and UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, West Australia, Australia

    Lynette K. Abbott

  3. Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ajit Varma

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Abbott, L.K., Lumley, S. (2014). Assessing Economic Benefits of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi as a Potential Indicator of Soil Health. In: Solaiman, Z., Abbott, L., Varma, A. (eds) Mycorrhizal Fungi: Use in Sustainable Agriculture and Land Restoration. Soil Biology, vol 41. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45370-4_2

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