Rapid change of AM fungal community in a rain-fed wheat field with short-term plastic film mulching practice

• Published in: Mycorrhiza 2012, Vol.22 (1), p.31-39
• Main Authors: Liu, Yongjun, Mao, Lin, He, Xinhua, Cheng, Gang, Ma, Xiaojun, An, Lizhe, Feng, Huyuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural ecosystems; Agricultural practices; Agriculture; Agriculture - methods; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Alkaline phosphatase; arbuscular mycorrhizas; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; China; Colonization; Community composition; community structure; Cropping systems. Cultivation. Soil tillage; DNA, Fungal - chemistry; DNA, Fungal - genetics; Ecology; Economic plant physiology; ecosystems; Edible Grain - microbiology; Edible Grain - physiology; field experimentation; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; fungal communities; Fungal Proteins - analysis; Fungi; Fungi - genetics; Fungi - isolation & purification; Fungi - physiology; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Cropping systems and patterns; glomalin; Glycoproteins - analysis; Grain; Life Sciences; loess; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mulching; Mycorrhizae - genetics; Mycorrhizae - isolation & purification; Mycorrhizae - physiology; mycorrhizal fungi; Mycorrhizas; Original Paper; Parasitism and symbiosis; Phosphorus; Phosphorus - analysis; Phylogeny; Plant physiology and development; Plant Roots - microbiology; Plant Roots - physiology; Plant Sciences; plastic film; Plastics; plateaus; Rain; ribosomal DNA; RNA, Fungal - genetics; RNA, Ribosomal - genetics; Roots; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Soil - chemistry; Soil Microbiology; Soil microorganisms; Soil moisture; Soil properties; soil water; Spores; Spores, Fungal - physiology; Spring wheat; Symbiosis; Symbiosis (nodules, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza...); Tending. Growth control; Tillage. Tending. Growth control; Triticum - microbiology; Triticum - physiology; Triticum aestivum; vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae
• ISSN: 0940-6360; 1432-1890
• DOI: 10.1007/s00572-011-0378-y

Plastic film mulching (PFM) is a widely used agricultural practice in the temperate semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. However, how beneficial soil microbes, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in particular, respond to the PFM practice is not known. Here, a field experiment was performed to study the effects of a 3-month short-term PFM practice on AM fungi in plots planted with spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Dingxi-2) in the Loess Plateau. AM colonization, spore density, wheat spike weight, and grain phosphorus (P) content were significantly increased in the PFM treatments, and these changes were mainly attributable to changes in soil properties such as available P and soil moisture. Alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly higher in PFM soils, but levels of AM fungal-related glomalin were similar between treatments. A total of nine AM fungal phylotypes were detected in root samples based on AM fungal SSU rDNA analyses, with six and five phylotypes in PFM and no-PFM plots, respectively. Although AM fungal phylotype richness was not statistically different between treatments, the community compositions were different, with four and three specific phylotypes in the PFM and no-PFM plots, respectively. A significant and rapid change in AM fungal, wheat, and soil variables following PFM suggested that the functioning of the AM symbiosis had been changed in the wheat field under PFM. Future studies are needed to investigate whether PFM applied over a longer term has a similar effect on the AM fungal community and their functioning in an agricultural ecosystem.