biologia plantarum

International journal on Plant Life established by Bohumil Nìmec in 1959

Biologia plantarum 43:221-226, 2000 | DOI: 10.1023/A:1002700226167

The Role of Plant Size and Nutrient Concentrations in Associations between Medicago, and Rhizobium and/or Glomus

N. Goicoechea1, M.C. Antolin1, M. Sanchez-Diaz1
1 Departamento de Fisiologia Vegetal, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

The aim of this research was to carry out a critical study of the method of obtaining size equivalence between non-symbiotic alfalfa and alfalfa associated with Glomus and/or Rhizobium by applying fixed addition rates of nutrients to the non-symbiotic controls. The experimental design included three nutrient response curves in which the levels of added phosphorus and/or nitrogen were constant during the whole plant growth process: 1) a phosphorus response curve, in order to compare the growth of double symbiotic plants with that of only-Rhizobium inoculated ones; 2) a nitrogen response curve, that consisted of a comparison between the growth of double symbiotic alfalfa and four treatments associated only with Glomus; 3) a phosphorus and nitrogen response curve, to compare the growth of non-inoculated alfalfa with that of double symbiotic plants. Although similar size was achieved among some treatments at harvest, shoot growth over time and nutrient concentrations in tissues differed, indicating that growth equivalence did not mean functional equivalence. A second experimental design was performed taking into account the establishment of microsymbionts for determining the adequate moment to add supplemental phosphorus and/or nitrogen. It included four treatments: a) double symbiotic plants (MR); b) plants inoculated with Rhizobium only (R); c) plants inoculated with Glomus only (M), and d) non-inoculated plants (N). Great similarity in terms of plant growth and nutrient contents in tissues were obtained. Moreover, symbiotic plants were able to produce similar dry matter than non-symbiotic ones under P and N limitations.

Keywords: alfalfa; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; nitrogen; nitrogen-fixing bacteria; phosphorus; plant growth
Subjects: alfalfa, mycorrhizae; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Glomus fasciculatum; growth, mycorrhizae; Medicago sativa; mycorrhizae, nutrients, alfalfa; nitrogen-fixing bacteria, alfalfa; nitrogen, mycorrhizae; phosphorus, mycorrhizae; Rhizobium meliloti

Published: August 1, 2000  Show citation

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Goicoechea, N., Antolin, M.C., & Sanchez-Diaz, M. (2000). The Role of Plant Size and Nutrient Concentrations in Associations between Medicago, and Rhizobium and/or Glomus. Biologia plantarum, 43(2), 221-226. doi: 10.1023/A:1002700226167
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