Lee EH, et al. Mycobiology. 2013 Sep;41(3):121-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.5941/MYCO.2013.41.3.121

Tallgrass prairie sites subjected to 10 y of annual burning, mowing, nitrogen (N) fertilization or phosphorus (P) fertilization and untreated reference sites were studied to examine effects of these management practices on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis. Spring burning of native prairie field plots significantly reduced AM fungal species diversity, while increasing spore abundance. This increase in total spore number was due to a general increase in most of the 17 fungal species present. In general, the management treatments had larger effects on the richness component of diversity than on the evenness of AM species abundances. Burning and mowing had no significant effects on AM fungal colonization of roots or extraradical mycorrhizal hyphae (EMH) development. However, nitrogen fertilization significantly increased root colonization and EMH development, and P amendment decreased EMH development. There was no significant effect of fertilizer amendment on AM spore abundance, fungal species d...

Complex interactions among mycorrhizal fungi, plants, and herbivores occur in grasslands. Grazing of aboveground vegetation may influence plants directly and in...

We investigated the effects on various crops of inoculation with species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soils from different sources and selected AMF species suitable for domestic environment-friendly farming. Effects on plants varied with the AMF species used. In carrot, Scutellospora heterogama, Acaulospora longula, and Funneliformis mosseae had a positive effect on growth of the host, whereas AMF had only weak effects on the growth of red pepper and leek. AMF inoculation had positive effects on the growth of carrot and sorghum. The results of this study indicate the nature of the relationship between soil, plants, and AMF; this study therefore has important implications for the future use of AMF in environment-friendly agriculture.