A. Boucher et al., Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of four species of Glomus onphysiological responses of maize, J PLANT NUT, 22(4-5), 1999, pp. 783-797
This greenhouse study aimed to analyze the impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal
(AM) fungal associations on maize (Zea mays L. hybrid Pioneer 3905) in ord
er to compare their functional compatibility and efficiency. The AM fungus
species used for this study were Glomus aggregatum, G. etunicatum, G. mosse
ae, and G. versiforme. Shoot and leaf masses, chlorophyll, soluble protein,
total and reducing sugar, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) concentrations, and
glutamine synthetase (GS) activity in the maize leaves were analyzed. The
root colonization ranged from 26% to 72% depending on the AM fungus species
. Leaf mass was significantly higher when maize plants were colonized with
G. etunicatum in comparison to the non-AM control. The mycorrhizal effect o
n dry leaf mass ranged from 15.9% to 23.9% depending on the AM species. How
ever, the total shoot mass did not differ significantly among the treatment
s. The mycorrhizal treatment had a marginally significant effect on the chl
orophyll concentrations in maize leaves. The protein concentration was the
highest in the plants colonized with G. etunicatum and the N percentage was
significantly higher in the leaves of plants colonized by G. versiforme or
G. aggregatum than those with G. mosseae. However, the AM colonization did
not significantly alter the GS activity among the treatments. The highest
sugar concentrations were detected in the leaves of plants colonized by G.
versiforme. The sugar concentrations as well as the C percentage were lower
in the leaves of plants colonized by G. etunicatum compared to the other m
ycorrhizal treatments but the values were comparable to the non-AM control.
Our overall results suggest that the expression of the mycorrhizal potenti
al in the maize host plants varies among AM fungal species.