Forage radish and cereal rye cover crop effects on mycorrhizal fungus colonization of maize roots

• Published in: Plant and soil Vol. 328; no. 1-2; pp. 507 - 521
• Main Authors: White, Charles M, Weil, Ray R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01.03.2010; Springer; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural practices; Agricultural soils; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cereal crops; Colonization; Corn; Cover crops; Crops; Ecology; Economic plant physiology; field experimentation; Field tests; Forage; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fungi; General agronomy. Plant production; isothiocyanates; Life Sciences; mycorrhizal fungi; Phosphorus; Plant Physiology; Plant roots; Plant Sciences; Plants; Radishes; Raphanus sativus; Regular Article; Roots; Rye; Secale cereale; Silage; Soil fungi; Soil Science & Conservation; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments; Symbiosis (nodules, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza...); Tillage; United States; winter; Zea mays; United States; Forage radish; Phosphorus; Isothiocyanate; Cereal rye; Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Monocotyledones; Vegetables; Cover crop; C4-Type; Glomeromycota; Raphanus sativus; Cereal crop; Fungi; Cruciferae; Gramineae; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Radish; Isothiocyanates; Non metal; Symbiosis; Vegetals; Secale cereale; Zea mays; Root; Symbiont; Group VA element; Endomycorrhiza; Vegetable crop; Vegetative apparatus; Mycorrhiza; Spermatophyta; Soil plant relation; Colonization
• ISSN: 0032-079X; 1573-5036
• DOI: 10.1007/s11104-009-0131-x

Forage radish (Raphanus sativus L. var. longipinnatus) is being used by increasing numbers of farmers as a winter cover crop in the Mid-Atlantic USA. It is a non-host to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and releases anti-fungal isothiocyanates (ITCs) upon decomposition in the winter. Field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of forage radish and cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crops on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus colonization of and P acquisition by a subsequent maize (Zea mays L.) silage crop. Cover crop treatments included forage radish, rye, a mix of forage radish and rye, and no cover crop. Mycorrhizal fungus colonization of maize roots at the V4 stage following forage radish cover crops was not significantly different from that in the no cover crop treatment. In 3 out of 6 site-years, a rye cover crop increased AMF colonization of V4 stage maize roots compared to no cover crop. These findings suggest that forage radish cover crops do not have a negative effect on AMF colonization of subsequent crops.