TY - JOUR
T1 - Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal species composition, propagule density, and soil alkaline phosphatase activity in response to continuous and alternate no-tillage in Northern China
AU - Hu, Junli
AU - Yang, Anna
AU - Wang, Junhua
AU - Zhu, Anning
AU - Dai, Jue
AU - WONG, Ming Hung
AU - Lin, Xiangui
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program ( 2011CB100505 ) and the National Natural Science Foundation (No. 40801090 ) of China, and the Provincial Natural Science Foundation ( 1308085QD68 ) of Anhui, China. We wish to acknowledge Qi'ao Jiang, Linyun Zhou, Jinfang Wang, and Jian Liu, of the Fengqiu Agro-Ecological Experimental Station, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for their excellent field management and support on soil sampling. We are also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions greatly improved the quality of this manuscript.
PY - 2015/10/1
Y1 - 2015/10/1
N2 - Purpose: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi provide a direct link between soil and roots, and are renowned for their ability to increase nutrient phytoavailability, notably phosphorus (P). The objective of this study was to evaluate influences of continuous and alternate no-tillage on soil AM fungal species composition and soil P-supply parameters. Materials and methods: In June 2006, a long-term field experiment was established in a sandy loam soil under the rotation of summer maize (Zea mays L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Northern China, including conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage (NT) and alternate tillage (AT - tillage in the wheat season and no-tillage in the maize season). Top soil samples (0-15. cm) from four individual plots per treatment were collected before maize harvest on 18 September 2010. Soil AM fungal spores were isolated and identified, and the external mycelium length, soil alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and soil P content were also determined. Results and discussion: Thirty species of AM fungi within seven genera, Acaulospora, Claroideoglomus, Funneliformis, Glomus, Racocetra, Rhizophagus, and Scutellospora, were recovered. Some species sporulated differentially across the three treatments, and the lowest Jaccard index (J) of similarity in species composition was recorded between NT and CT (J=. 0.767), but there were no significant differences in soil total P and available P contents, as well as in AM fungal spore density (SD), species richness (SR) and diversity indices, including Shannon-Wiener index (H'), Evenness (E) and Simpson's index (D). Compared with CT, NT rather than AT significantly increased (P<. 0.05) the external mycelium length, soil ALP activity, and soil organic C content. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the vital role of NT in maintaining external hyphae growth and soil ALP activity rather than in promoting AM fungal species diversity and spore density, and suggested that 4-year continuous NT will not cause degradation in either AM fungal community or soil P-supply efficiency.
AB - Purpose: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi provide a direct link between soil and roots, and are renowned for their ability to increase nutrient phytoavailability, notably phosphorus (P). The objective of this study was to evaluate influences of continuous and alternate no-tillage on soil AM fungal species composition and soil P-supply parameters. Materials and methods: In June 2006, a long-term field experiment was established in a sandy loam soil under the rotation of summer maize (Zea mays L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Northern China, including conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage (NT) and alternate tillage (AT - tillage in the wheat season and no-tillage in the maize season). Top soil samples (0-15. cm) from four individual plots per treatment were collected before maize harvest on 18 September 2010. Soil AM fungal spores were isolated and identified, and the external mycelium length, soil alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and soil P content were also determined. Results and discussion: Thirty species of AM fungi within seven genera, Acaulospora, Claroideoglomus, Funneliformis, Glomus, Racocetra, Rhizophagus, and Scutellospora, were recovered. Some species sporulated differentially across the three treatments, and the lowest Jaccard index (J) of similarity in species composition was recorded between NT and CT (J=. 0.767), but there were no significant differences in soil total P and available P contents, as well as in AM fungal spore density (SD), species richness (SR) and diversity indices, including Shannon-Wiener index (H'), Evenness (E) and Simpson's index (D). Compared with CT, NT rather than AT significantly increased (P<. 0.05) the external mycelium length, soil ALP activity, and soil organic C content. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the vital role of NT in maintaining external hyphae growth and soil ALP activity rather than in promoting AM fungal species diversity and spore density, and suggested that 4-year continuous NT will not cause degradation in either AM fungal community or soil P-supply efficiency.
KW - Diversity
KW - External mycelium
KW - Organic C
KW - Relative abundance
KW - Species richness
KW - Spore density
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84930623456&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.catena.2015.05.023
DO - 10.1016/j.catena.2015.05.023
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84930623456
SN - 0341-8162
VL - 133
SP - 215
EP - 220
JO - Catena
JF - Catena
ER -