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EFFECT OF BENOMYL ON LEAF PHOSPHORUS CONCENTRATION IN ALPINE GRASSLANDS: A TEST OF MYCORRHIZAL BENEFIT
Author(s) -
FITTER A. H.
Publication year - 1986
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.1469-8137.1986.tb00851.x
Subject(s) - benomyl , phosphorus , biology , fungicide , grassland , phosphate , hypha , horticulture , mycorrhizal fungi , botany , agronomy , chemistry , inoculation , biochemistry , organic chemistry
S ummary Phosphate and the fungicide, benomyl, were applied to two alpine grasslands in the Kananaskis Valley, Alberta, Canada, to test the hypothesis that a reduction in leaf phosphorus concentration should result from reduction in vesicular‐arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) infection if mycorrhizal hyphae are the main route of P uptake by roots. Benomyl successfully reduced infection in the roots of several species. At one site the result was an increase and not a decrease in leaf N and P concentrations, which was directly proportional to the original infection level, implying a benefit to the plant from the reduction in infection. At the other site, opposite trends were observed before and after a severe drought episode, implying that infection was initially deleterious and later beneficial. These results are adduced as evidence to support a hypothesis that VAM infection is only beneficial to plants under particular environmental conditions or at specific times in the year or life‐cycle.