scholarly journals Impact of protein hydrolysate biostimulants on growth of barley and wheat and their interaction with symbionts and pathogens

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Stephan Schmidt ◽  
Libor Mrnka ◽  
Tomáš Frantík ◽  
Martin Bárnet ◽  
Miroslav Vosátka ◽  
...  

We compared the biostimulant effect of a novel chicken feather hydrolysate (FH) and a reference protein hydrolysate (RH) on barley and wheat in a pot experiment. Their interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and phosphorus (P) supply were also addressed. All experimental factors influenced barley growth. Shoot height and biomass of barley were increased by FH and reduced by RH. AMF decreased barley biomass at high P-supply. In wheat, the biomass was slightly reduced by AMF while other factors had no significant effect. In the parallel field experiment, RH but not FH increased yield and grain size of barley, while there was no significant effect of either hydrolysate on wheat. Application time had no effect on hydrolysate efficacy. Both hydrolysates promoted severity of net blotch (Pyrenophora teres maculata) on barley in the pot experiment, but reduced it in field. FH promoted wheat root colonisation by AMF under low-P supply. Our results show limited transferability of pot results to field conditions and manifest complex interactions between hydrolysates, soil phosphorus, and plant symbionts and pathogens.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Alexander Peña Venegas ◽  
Soon-Jae Lee ◽  
Moses Thuita ◽  
Deusdedit Peter Mlay ◽  
Cargele Masso ◽  
...  

A vast majority of terrestrial plants are dependent on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for their nutrient acquisition. AMF act as an extension of the root system helping phosphate uptake. In agriculture, harnessing the symbiosis can potentially increase plant growth. Application of the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis has been demonstrated to increase the yields of various crops. However, there is a paradigm that AMF colonization of roots, as well as the plant benefits afforded by inoculation with AMF, decreases with increasing phosphorus (P) supply in the soil. The paradigm suggests that when fertilized with sufficient P, inoculation of crops would not be beneficial. However, the majority of experiments demonstrating the paradigm were conducted in sterile conditions without a background AMF or soil microbial community. Interestingly, intraspecific variation in R. irregularis can greatly alter the yield of cassava even at a full application of the recommended P dose. Cassava is a globally important crop, feeding 800 million people worldwide, and a crop that is highly dependent on AMF for P uptake. In this study, field trials were conducted at three locations in Kenya and Tanzania using different AMF and cassava varieties under different P fertilization levels to test if the paradigm occurs in tropical field conditions. We found that AMF colonization and inoculation responsiveness of cassava does not always decrease with an increased P supply as expected by the paradigm. The obtained results demonstrate that maximizing the inoculation responsiveness of cassava is not necessarily only in conditions of low P availability, but that this is dependent on cassava and fungal genotypes. Thus, the modeling of plant symbiosis with AMF under different P levels in nature should be considered with caution.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samiran Banerjee ◽  
Florian Walder ◽  
Lucie Büchi ◽  
Marcel Meyer ◽  
Alain Y. Held ◽  
...  

AbstractRoot-associated microbes play a key role in plant performance and productivity, making them important players in agroecosystems. So far, very few studies have assessed the impact of different farming systems on the root microbiota and it is still unclear whether agricultural intensification influences network complexity of microbial communities. We investigated the impact of conventional, no-till and organic farming on wheat root fungal communities usingPacBio SMRT sequencingon samples collected from 60 farmlands in Switzerland. Organic farming harboured a much more complex fungal network than conventional and no-till farming systems. The abundance of keystone taxa was the highest under organic farming where agricultural intensification was the lowest. The occurrence of keystone taxa was best explained by soil phosphorus levels, bulk density, pH and mycorrhizal colonization. The majority of keystone taxa are known to form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations with plants and belong to the ordersGlomerales,Paraglomerales, andDiversisporales. Supporting this, the abundance of mycorrhizal fungi in roots and soils was also significantly higher under organic farming. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report mycorrhizal keystone taxa for agroecosystems, and we demonstrate that agricultural intensification reduces network complexity and the abundance of keystone taxa in the root microbiota.


Soil Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary N. Muchane ◽  
Mirjam M. Pulleman ◽  
Bernard Vanlauwe ◽  
Joyce Jefwa ◽  
Thomas W. Kuyper

Earthworms and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) modify soil physical and chemical properties. However, little is known about how their interactions affect water-stable aggregation, glomalin and crop performance. A greenhouse experiment was run for 9 months to test the effects of earthworms (endogeic, Pontoscolex corethrurus; and epigeic, Dichogaster bolaui) and AMF (none, Glomus etunicatum and Scutellospora verrucosa) on water-stable aggregation, glomalin levels in aggregate size classes and crop performance. The test crop was pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.). The soil material used for the experiment was a humic nitisol from central Kenya mixed with sand (ratio 1:1). Grass residue (equivalent to 20tha–1) was placed on top. The AMF root colonisation and external hyphal length, water-stable macroaggregates and microaggregates, total and easily-extractable glomalin in aggregate size classes, plant biomass and plant N and P uptake were measured. Earthworms were a major source of variation for soil aggregation, glomalin content and crop performance. The epigeic earthworms (D. bolaui) increased the amount of water-stable macroaggregates (by 10%) and glomalin in microaggregates and improved crop (growth and biomass) performance. The endogeic earthworms (P. corethrurus) reduced external hyphal length, root colonisation and crop performance but had no effect on water-stable aggregates and glomalin levels in in aggregate size classes. A significant AMF×earthworm interaction was observed for plant biomass and concentrations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The AMF species together with epigeic earthworms increased plant biomass and N and P concentrations. Our results contribute to the understanding of interactions between AMF and earthworms in relation to soil aggregation, plant productivity and nutrient uptake.


2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (13) ◽  
pp. 1309-1327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Drumonde Melo ◽  
Christopher Walker ◽  
Claudia Krüger ◽  
Paulo A.V. Borges ◽  
Sara Luna ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play important key roles in the soil ecosystems as they link plants to the root-inaccessible part of soil. The aims of this study were to investigate which environmental factors influence the spatial and temporal structuring of AMF communities associated to Picconia azorica in two Azorean islands (Terceira and São Miguel islands), and investigate the seasonal variation in AMF communities between the two islands. Methods Communities of AMF associated with P. azorica in native forest of two Azorean islands (Terceira and São Miguel) were characterised by spore morphology or molecular analysis. Results Forty-five AMF spore morphotypes were detected from the four fragments of P. azorica forest representing nine families of AMF. Acaulosporaceae (14) and Glomeraceae (9) were the most abundant families. AMF density and root colonisation varied significantly between islands and sampling sites. Root colonisation and spore density exhibited temporal patterns, which peaked in spring and were higher in Terceira than in São Miguel. The relative contribution of environmental factors showed that factors such as elevation, relative air humidity, soil pH, and soil available P, K, and Mg influenced AMF spore production and root colonisation. Conclusion Different sporulation patterns exhibited by the members of the commonest families suggested different life strategies. Adaptation to a particular climatic and soil condition and host phenology may explain seasonal differences in sporulation patterns. Cohorts of AMF associated to P. azorica are shaped by regional processes including environmental filters such as soil properties and natural disturbance.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1716
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Chunqin Zou ◽  
Xiuxiu Chen ◽  
Yumin Liu ◽  
Dunyi Liu ◽  
...  

Copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) are essential micronutrients for plants and animals. How phosphorus (P) application affects Cu and Fe concentrations in maize grain still remains unclear. Two-year field studies were conducted in a long-term experiment with six P levels (0, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200 kg∙ha−1 P) on calcareous soil. Phosphorus application significantly decreased the average grain Cu concentration by 12.6% compared to no P treatment, but had no effect on grain Fe concentration. The copper content increased as the P application rate increased from 0 to 25 or 50 kg·ha−1, but then decreased, while Fe content kept increasing. As the P application rate increased, the specific Cu uptake by the roots decreased, but not for Fe. The root length density in response to P application had a positive relationship with shoot Cu and Fe content. The shoot Cu content and grain Cu concentration decreased with the reduction in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization of roots due to increasing P application. The reduction in grain Cu concentration with increasing P rates could be partly explained by the decreasing uptake efficiency.


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