Advances in understanding arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal effects on soil nutrient cycling

Publication date: 18/01/2021
Extent: 18 pages

Contributions by: Haiyang Zhang and Jeff R. Powell, Western Sydney University, Australia

Chapter synopsis: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi assist with plant acquisition of nutrients, with most studies focussing on the nutrient forms taken up and translocated to the host. Recent studies have focussed on how extraradical fungal hyphae can affect nutrient ransformations, leaching and movement. However, it is still unclear the extent that nutrient cycling is influenced in agricultural contexts. Moreover, much of the mechanistic knowledge is limited to a few plants and fungi studied under controlled conditions, suggesting a need for innovation addressing the broader diversity of agricultural AM plant-fungal associations. This chapter summarises how AM fungi can influence specific soil nutrient processes, then focuses specifically on AM fungi in crop production systems and examples of (in)compatibilities in these systems. These research areas are then contextualized with new approaches to understand AM fungal roles in nutrient acquisition and utilisation, which the authors propose will lead to applications in improving nutrient use efficiency of agroecosystems.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2020.0075.10