Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/4348
Title: Short-term phosphorus uptake rates in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roots of intact Pinus sylvestris seedlings.
Authors: COLPAERT, Jan 
VAN TICHELEN, Katia 
van Assche, J.A.
van Laere, A.
Issue Date: 1999
Publisher: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Source: New phytologist, 143. p. 589-597
Abstract: Short-term phosphate uptake rates were measured on intact ectomycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal Pinus sylvestris seedlings using a new, non-destructive method. Uptake was quantified in semihydroponics from the depletion of P-i in a nutrient solution percolating through plant containers. Plants were grown for 1 or 2 months after inoculation at a low relative nutrient addition rate of 3% d(-1) and under P limitation. Four ectomycorrhizal fungi were studied: Paxillus involutus, Suillus luteus, Suillus bovinus and Thelephora terrestris. The P-i-uptake capacity of mycorrhizal plants increased sharply in the month after inoculation. The increase was dependent on the development of the mycobionts. A positive correlation was found between the P-i-uptake rates of the seedlings and the active fungal biomass in the substrate as measured by the ergosterol assay. The highest P-i-uptake rates were found in seedlings associated with fungi producing abundant external mycelia. At an external P-i concentration of 10 mu M, mycorrhizal seedlings reached uptake rates that were 2.5 (T. terrestris) to 8.7 (P. involutus) times higher than those of non-mycorrhizal plants. The increased uptake rates did not result in an increased transfer of nutrients to the plant tissues. Nutrient depletion was ultimately similar between mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants in the semihydroponic system. Net P-i absorption followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics: uptake rates declined with decreasing P-i concentrations in the nutrient solution. This reduction was most pronounced in nonmycorrhizal seedlings and plants colonized by T. terrestris. The results confirm that there is considerable heterogeneity in affinity for P-i uptake among the different mycobionts. It is concluded that the external mycelia of ectomycorrhizal fungi strongly influence the P-i-uptake capacity of the pine seedlings, and that some mycobionts are well equipped to compete with other soil microorganisms for P-i present at low concentrations in soil solution.
Keywords: BASIDIOMYCETE PISOLITHUS-TINCTORIUS; PICEA-ABIES SEEDLINGS; WILLOW ECTOMYCORRHIZAS; PAXILLUS-INVOLUTUS; NONMYCORRHIZAL; PHOSPHATE; NITROGEN; PLANTS; KINETICS; GROWTH; ectomycorrhiza; external mycelium; short-term phosphate uptake; Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine); Paxillus involutus; Suillus bovinus; Suillus luteus; Thelephora terrestris
Document URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/4348
DOI: 10.1046/j.1469-8137.1999.00471.x
ISI #: 000083222100014
Type: Journal Contribution
Appears in Collections:Research publications

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