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Interactions between root hair length and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation in phosphorus deficient barley (Hordeum vulgare)

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Abstract

Aims

Phosphorus (P) limits crop yield and P-fertilisers are frequently applied to agricultural soils. However, supplies of quality rock phosphate are diminishing. Plants have evolved mechanisms to improve P-acquisition and understanding these could improve the long-term sustainability of agriculture. Here we examined interactions between root hairs and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonisation in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.).

Methods

Barley mutants exhibiting different root hair phenotypes, wild type barley and narrowleaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) were grown in the glasshouse in P-sufficient and P-deficient treatments and allowed to develop AM colonization from the natural soil community. Plants were harvested after 6 weeks growth and root hair length, AM-fungal colonisation, shoot biomass and P-accumulation measured.

Results

Under P-deficient conditions, root hair length and AM colonisation were negatively related suggesting that resources are allocated to root hairs rather than to AM fungi in response to P-deficiency. There was evidence that barley and narrowleaf plantain employed different strategies to increase P-acquisition under identical conditions, but root hairs were more effective.

Conclusions

This research suggests future barley breeding programmes should focus on maintaining or improving root hair phenotypes and that pursuing enhancements to AM associations under the prevalent agricultural conditions tested here would be ineffectual.

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Abbreviations

NRH:

No root hairs

SRH:

Short root hairs

LRH:

Long root hairs

WT:

Wild type

PL:

Plantago lanceolata

%RLC:

Percentage root length colonised

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Acknowledgments

This work was variously funded by IAEA Technical Contract 113618/RO, Scottish Government through RERAD Work package 1.7 “Profitable and sustainable agriculture” and The Royal Society of Edinburgh through a Personal Research Fellowship (TSG). Work was also supported as a MSc project by the James Hutton Institute and the University of Dundee (LKB). The authors would like to thank J. McNicol for statistical advice.

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Correspondence to Timothy S. George.

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Brown, L.K., George, T.S., Barrett, G.E. et al. Interactions between root hair length and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation in phosphorus deficient barley (Hordeum vulgare). Plant Soil 372, 195–205 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1718-9

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