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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can alter some root characters and physiological status in trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf.) seedlings

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Abstract

Citrus plants strongly depend on mycorrhizal symbiosis because of less or no root hairs, but few reports have studied if their root traits and physiological status could be altered by different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). In a pot experiment we evaluated the effects of three AMF species, Glomus mosseae, G. versiforme and Paraglomus occultum on the root traits and physiological variables of the trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf.) seedlings. Root mycorrhizal colonization was 58–76% after 180 days of inoculation. AMF association significantly increased plant height, stem diameter, leaf number per plant, shoot and root biomass. Mycorrhizal seedlings also had higher total root length, total root projected area, total root surface area and total root volume but thinner root diameter. Among the three AMFs, greater positive effects on aboveground growth generally ranked as G. mosseae > P. occultum > G. versiforme, whilst on root traits as G. mosseae ≈ P. occultum > G. versiforme. Compared to the non-mycorrhizal seedlings, contents of chlorophyll, leaf glucose and sucrose, root soluble protein were significantly increased in the mycorrhizal seedlings. In contrast, root glucose and sucrose, leaf soluble protein, and activity of peroxidase (POD) in both leaves and roots were significantly decreased in the mycorrhizal seedlings. It suggested that the improvement of root traits could be dependent on AMF species and be related to the AMF-induced alteration of carbohydrates and POD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.: 30800747), the Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (No.: 211107), and the Science-Technology Research Project for Excellent Middle-aged and Young Talents of Hubei Provincial Department of Education, China (No.: Q20111301).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Horticulture and Gardening, Yangtze University, No. 88 Jingmi Road, Jingzhou, Hubei, 434025, People’s Republic China

    Qiang-Sheng Wu, Ying-Ning Zou & Peng Luo

  2. Centre for Ecosystem Management/School of Natural Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, 6027, Australia

    Xin-Hua He

  3. State Centre of Excellence for Ecohydrology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Xin-Hua He

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  1. Qiang-Sheng Wu
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  2. Ying-Ning Zou
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Correspondence to Qiang-Sheng Wu.

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Wu, QS., Zou, YN., He, XH. et al. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can alter some root characters and physiological status in trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf.) seedlings. Plant Growth Regul 65, 273–278 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-011-9598-6

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