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SEASONAL AND EDAPHIC VARIATION IN VESICULAR‐ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL INFECTION OF GRASSES BY GLOMUS TENUIS
Author(s) -
RABATIN SUSAN C.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1979.tb00730.x
Subject(s) - edaphic , glomus , biology , mycorrhiza , arbuscular mycorrhizal , botany , symbiosis , glomeromycota , agronomy , ecology , bacteria , spore , soil water , genetics
S ummary Seasonal differences in percentage length of gramineous host root infected with Glomus tennis were measured in three field sites in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Highest G. tennis infection levels were generally found in the spring in very phosphorus‐deficient soils low in moisture. In roots sampled from soils with a high spring soil‐moisture content, fine endophyte infection increased to a maximum later in the growing season. A higher percentage frequency of fine endophyte infection on fine grass feeder roots in spring is taken as evidence for the hypothesis that G. tenuis is a vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus particularly adapted to penetrating host roots during brief seasonal fluxes of phosphorus availability. The implications of these data are discussed in relation to mechanisms in grasses which adapt them to nutrient stress.