Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can shift plant-soil feedback of grass-endophyte symbiosis from negative to positive

GARCIA PARISI, PA; OMACINI M

PLANT AND SOIL

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2017

0032-079X

Aims:Plants affect each other by modifying soils conditions in plant-soil feedbacks,where associated microbes have an integral role. Since epichloid endophytes andarbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are highly widespread grass symbionts, herewe explore the role of AMF and endophyte in plant-soil feedback within the samegrass population.Methods: Through a manipulative experiment, we evaluated the performanceof endophyte-free and endophyte-associated Lolium multiflorum plants grown insoils previously conditioned by endophyte-free and endophyte-associated plantsand inoculated or not with three AMF species.Results: The biomass ofendophyte-free and endophyte-associated plants wasincreased by AMF inoculation, when growing in soils conditioned by equalendophytic status plants (i.e. home soils). When growing in soils conditionedby plants with different endophytic status, plant biomass was higher than inhome soil only in absence of AMF. The content of P and the arbuscularcolonization also increased in plants growing in home soils.Conclusion: Wedemonstrated that AMF shift the intraspecific feedback effects between E+ andE- conspecific plants from negative to positive. Furthermore, we found that theoutcome of simultaneous occurrence of foliar and root symbionts on grassperformance depends on the matching with the endophytic status of the previousplant.