Interactions between phosphorus supply and total nutrient availability on mycorrhizal colonization, growth and photosynthesis of cucumber

• Published in: Scientia horticulturae Vol. 88; no. 3; pp. 177 - 189
• Main Authors: Valentine, A.J, Osborne, B.A, Mitchell, D.T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 04.05.2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Arbuscular mycorrhizas; Biological and medical sciences; Cucumis sativus; Economic plant physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Nutrients; P supply; Parasitism and symbiosis; Photosynthesis; Plant physiology and development; Symbiosis; Symbiosis (nodules, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza...); Nutrients; Cucumis sativus; Photosynthesis; Arbuscular mycorrhizas; P supply; Growth; Phycomycetes; Glomus mosseae; Inorganic element; Fungi; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Thallophyta; Symbiosis; Symbionte; Nutrition; Nutrient recovery; Cucurbitaceae; Phosphorus; Bioavailability; Nitrogen; Endomycorrhiza; Vegetable crop; Mycorrhiza; Nutrient; Spermatophyta; Respiration; Colonization
• ISSN: 0304-4238; 1879-1018
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-4238(00)00205-3

The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) infection by Glomus mosseae (Nicolson & Gerdemann) Gerdemann & Trappe on growth, photosynthesis and nutrient concentration of cucumber ( Cucumis sativus L. var. Telegraph Improved) were studied in sand culture with three different nutrient solutions based on the Long Ashton formula. These were high P+high concentrations of the other essential nutrients (full-strength solution containing 1.3 mM P), low P (0.13 mM)+ high concentrations of the other nutrients and low P+low concentrations of the other nutrients (10% of the full-strength nutrient solution). AM infection was found to depend on both P supply and the availability of other nutrients. Plants grown at low P with high concentrations of other nutrients had the highest AM infection, and a higher biomass due to an enhanced maximum net photosynthetic rate ( P m). Although this was unrelated to the N concentration of leaves, there was evidence that the higher P m was associated with a low leaf P concentration and the significance of these results is discussed. With high P and high concentrations of the other nutrients, a growth depression was found with +AM plants, although this was not due to a reduction in photosynthesis or an increase in leaf dark respiration rate. It was, however, associated with a reduction in photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency. Overall, the present study indicates that any advantages or disadvantages associated with AM infection in cucumber are a result of complex interactions between P supply and the availability of other essential nutrients.