Mycorrhizal Maps as a Tool to Explore Colonization Patterns and Fungal Strategies in the Roots of <em>Festuca rubra</em> and <em>Zea mays</em>

Models of mycorrhizal colonization patterns and strategies induced by biostimulator treatments in Zea mays roots

“…Maize roots went through four distinct steps in terms of the staining method before the microscopic preparation was made. The staining method was the one presented by ( Vierheilig and Piché, 1998 ) but adapted by Stoian and Florian (2009) and supplemented by Stoian et al. (2022) , which involves cleaning the roots with a 10% NaOH solution by immersion in this solution for 24 h. The next step was rinsing the roots with a water+vinegar solution for a few minutes.…”

“…Thus, 15 root segments were analyzed in 15 microscopic fields for each experimental variant in three replications. The microscopic evaluation methodology was performed using the MycoPatt model ( Stoian et al., 2019 ), which is an innovative model that shows the real position of the fungal structures present in the roots, calculates different indicators, and then generates automatically the mycorrhizal maps ( Stoian et al., 2022 ).…”

“…Maize roots went through four distinct steps in terms of the staining method before the microscopic preparation was made. The staining method was the one presented by (Vierheilig and Piche, 1998) but adapted by Stoian and Florian (2009) and supplemented by Stoian et al (2022), which involves cleaning the roots with a 10% NaOH solution by immersion in this solution for 24 h. The next step was rinsing the roots with a water+vinegar solution for a few minutes. Root coloring involves preparing a solution of 5% ink, 5% white vinegar, and 90% distilled water and immersing the roots for 24 h. After this, the roots were rinsed with distilled water for the removal of an extrastaining agent.…”

“…The entire research analyzed the differences between the native mycorrhizal potential in the first phenophase and the colonization value in subsequent phenophases. Another aim was to test the performance of the MycoPatt method ( Stoian et al., 2019 ; Stoian et al., 2022 ) to identify even the smallest differences produced by the biostimulator in the same fertilization conditions and to provide an increased resolution of colonization assessment. The secondary objectives follow a system of mycorrhizal assessment from simple to complex and were formulated as research questions: i) does the application of a biostimulator produce a quantifiable difference in average colonization parameters?…”