Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhance the drought resistance more significantly of the late‐successional psammophytes than that of the early ones

Abstract

Improving drought tolerance of psammophytes is a challenge for vegetation restoration in arid lands. Despite extensive reports on the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on plant resistance, its enhancements of drought resistance for psammophytes from different successions stages have been rarely explored. Here, seedlings of the Artemisia wudanica (early succession), Hedysarum fruticosum (middle succession), and the Caragana korshinskii (late succession) were selected to investigate the effect of AMF on the growth of psammophytes in different successional stages. We found that the mycorrhizal colonization of late‐successional psammophytes with the AMF was greater than that of the early and mid‐successional psammophytes. The effect of AMF on drought resistance was stronger in late‐successional psammophytes and the promotion effect increased with the intensity of drought. The AMF reduced the difference between aboveground and belowground plant growth and promoted more belowground growth of psammophytes in the late‐successional stage. We concluded that AMF can enhance the drought resistance of psammophytes and has a more significant effect on the growth of plants from the late‐successional stage. This study highlighted the importance of AMF for psammophytes, providing a new approach to improving the growth of psammophytes under drought circumstances.

Integration of Horse Manure Vermicompost Doses and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi to Improve Fruit Quality, and Soil Fertility in Tomato Field Facing Drought Stress

“…These findings are consistent with previous research, which found that the colonization potential of AMF-inoculated plant roots reduced when grown in water-limited soils [ 29 , 42 ]. This suggests that DS damages mycorrhizal structures by limiting spore germination or by decreasing normal symbiosis [ 43 , 44 ]. Furthermore, the combination of AMF and C1 and C2 decreased root infection under DS.…”

“…Data in Table 1 illustrate a significant improvement in fruit yield and growth, including fruit shape index (FSI), fruit fresh weight (FW), and fruit dry weight (DW) for tomato fruits planted under well-watered (WW) conditions by all treatments applied. On the DS (drought-stressed) condition, a marked reduction in yield and fruit growth was observed compared with WW conditions; however, on DS conditions, the application of AMF, C1, C2, AMF+C1, and AMF+C2 improved yield (43,63,67,60, and 50%, respectively) and DW (23,44,50,48 and 49%, respectively), compared with control plants. Compared with WW plants, the frequency (F) and intensity (I) of AMF colonization were significantly reduced under DW in tomato plants; however, under DS conditions, AMF, AMF+C1, and AMF+C2 treatments resulted in the significant stimulation of F and I mycorrhization by 130, 117, and 91%, respectively, compared with the non-inoculated DS control (Table 1).…”

A global review on arid zone restoration: approaches and challenges

“…As in other ecosystems, mycorrhiza associations are an important component of the soil microbiome in arid environments, with arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) being the dominant type (Allen et al 1995). Studies on species used in revegetation projects have shown that AM inoculation can increase both the drought (Pereira et al 2021; Dong et al 2023) and salinity tolerance (Pan et al 2020) of different species through improvements in water and nutrient absorbance, as well as improved osmotic regulation and gas exchange. A meta‐analysis by Piñeiro et al (2013) into the effects of different ecotechnologies on dryland revegetation found that, overall, mycorrhizal inoculation of nursery stock had a positive effect on both plant growth and survival.…”