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Role of arbuscular mycorrhizal network in carbon and phosphorus transfer between plants

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Abstract

Intercropping with aerobic rice or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization alleviated watermelon wilt disease, which is likely attributed to rice root exudates or AMF depressing watermelon wilt pathogen. However, it is unclear whether rice root exudates transfers to watermelon rhizosphere soil and whether AMF affects the transfer of rice root exudates to watermelon rhizosphere soil. A rhizobox experiment, with aerobic rice under 14 CO2, was conducted to investigate the effect of AMF colonization on carbon (C) transfer from rice to watermelon and on phosphorus (P) uptake by both watermelon and rice. The rhizobox was separated into labelling side (L side) and sampling side (S side) by inserting nylon mesh in the middle of the box. The L side was planted with aerobic rice, and the S side was aerobic rice (monocropping) or watermelon (intercropping). When 14 CO2 was added to rice canopy at the L side, 14 C activities of rice roots and rhizosphere soils in the L side were increased by intercropping with watermelon or AMF colonization. The 14 C was detected in roots and rhizosphere soils of rice and watermelon in the S side, but no differences were found among different treatments. 14 C activities in leaves were improved by AMF inoculation in the S side, regardless of rice or watermelon. Mycorrhizal colonization stimulated P absorption and translocation to rice in intercropping system. These findings suggest that AMF colonization could increase C transfer from rice to watermelon while intercropping with watermelon could promote AMF colonization and P uptake by rice.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 30871599, 40871151, and 30971855), the National High Technology Research and Development Program (863 project foundation of China, grant number 2006AA10Z134), the Qinglan Project of Jiangsu Province, and a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. We thank Prof. Uzi Kafkafi from Hebrew University of Jerusalem for carefully correcting the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertilization in Low-Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Lixuan Ren, Ning Zhang, Wenya Hao, Shubin Sun, Qirong Shen & Guohua Xu

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Yunsheng Lou

  3. Isotope Lab of Science College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Xudong Zhu

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  1. Lixuan Ren
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Correspondence to Guohua Xu.

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Ren, L., Lou, Y., Zhang, N. et al. Role of arbuscular mycorrhizal network in carbon and phosphorus transfer between plants. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 3–11 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0689-y

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