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ARTICLE

Colonization Characteristics and Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in the Rhizosphere of Iris lactea in Songnen Saline-alkaline Grassland

Chunxue Yang^*, Yajie Liu, Wenna Zhao, Na Wang

College of Landscape Architecture, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China

* Corresponding Author: Chunxue Yang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Mycorrhizal Fungi and Sustainable Development of Agriculture)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(3), 719-729. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2021.015024

Received 26 October 2020; Accepted 05 January 2021; Issue published 30 March 2021

Abstract

To understand arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi resources and develop AM fungal species in ornamental plants with saline-alkaline tolerances, Iris lactea, which grows in the Songnen saline-alkaline grassland with a high ornamental value, was selected as the experimental material, and the colonization characteristics of its roots and the AM fungal diversity in its rhizosphere were explored. The results of the observations and calculations of mycorrhizae from ten different samples showed that AM fungi colonized the roots of I. lactea and formed Arum-type mycorrhizal structures. There was a significant correlation between soil spore density and pH value, while the colonization rate showed a fluctuating trend with increasing pH values. The observed colonization intensities were of Levels II (1%–10%) or III (11%–50%), and the vesicle abundances were of grades A₂ or A₃ among different sites. AM fungi produced a large number of mycelia and vesicles in the roots of I. lactea after colonization. Thirty-seven species belonging to 15 genera of AM fungi were isolated from the rhizosphere of I. lactea and identified by morphological identification. Funneliformis and Glomus were the dominant genera, accounting for 21.79% and 20.85% of the total number, respectively. F. mosseae and Rhizophagus intraradices were isolated in all samples with importance values of 58.62 and 51.19, respectively. These results are expected to provide a theoretical basis for the analysis of the salt tolerance mechanism of I. lactea and for the discovery, exploration and further screening of AM fungal resources with salinity tolerances in saline-alkaline soils.

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