Mycorrhizal effectiveness in Citrus macrophylla at low phosphorus fertilization

An experiment was conducted with seedlings of Citrus macrophylla Wester to study the effects of P nutrition on plants inoculated with a mixture (Rhizophagus irregularis and Funneliformis mosseae) of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. The treatments consisted of factorial combinations of two factors: mycorrhization (-AM: non-inoculated plants, and +AM: inoculated plants) and P nutrition (0, 0.1, 1, and 5 mM P). After the P treatments had been applied for 165 days, the AM fungi showed an important effect on plant growth and P uptake, but this effect depended on the P fertilization. In the absence of P fertilization, inoculation with the AM fungi had little impact on P nutrition and plant growth. However, when 0.1 or 1 mM P was supplied, inoculation had a clear beneficial effect on plant growth, since P nutrition was significantly improved, the maximum growth of the +AM plants occurring at 1 mM P. The supply of 5 mM P did not increase plant growth with regard to 1 mM P due to a lack of improvement in leaf P nutrition and photosynthesis. The higher demand of the AM fungi in the roots of the +AM plants for sucrose reduced the concentration of sucrose in the leaves of plants receiving 5 mM P, and of fructose and glucose in the roots of plants supplied with 0.1 or 1 mM P, relative to the –AM plants. The inoculated plants grown with 5 mM P had a decreased starch concentration in their roots, in order to supply the high sugar demand of the AM fungi. The C drain towards the AM fungi in the +AM plants may have been compensated by a higher photosynthetic rate and improved mineral nutrition. Inoculation improved plant P nutrition in the 0.1 and 1 mM P treatments but had a lesser effect at 5 mM P. The tissue levels of certain nutrients, such as Mg, improved with inoculation regardless of the P treatment, but those of other nutrients - such as Zn or Fe - increased more in the +AM plants with lower P supply. So, in general, the +AM C. macrophylla plants receiving the highest P supply did not show improved mineral nutrition relative to the –AM plants. Overall, the results indicate that when the availability of P to C. macrophylla plants is high, the lower benefits received by the plants from the C-for-P trade can convert a mutualistic relationship between the host plant and AM fungi into a parasitic one since colonization can persist even when the availability of P in the soil is high.