It is still debated whether alien plants benefit from being mycorrhizal, or if engaging in the symbiosis constrains their establishment and spread in new regions. We analyzed the association between mycorrhizal status of alien plant species in Germany and their invasion success. We compared whether the representation of species with different mycorrhizal status (obligate, facultative, or non-my...

Establishment of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in plant roots can affect plant physiological and morphological characteristics and may induce tolerance to heavy metals in plants grown in polluted soils; therefore, it can play an important role in phytoremediation. In present study, to investigate the effect of mycorrhizae on alfalfa growth and Pb uptake, a factorial experiment was designed w...

Dear Editor, In their recent article published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Anna Ogar et al. (2015) have shown, thanks to a careful experimental design, that the addition of diazotrophic bacteria together with mycorrhizal fungi significantly improves plant growth and performance. Strikingly, the addition of inoculum containing only diazotrophs but not mycorrhizal fungi had c...

The present study was focused on evaluating the effect of AMF (Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi) inoculation nitrogen and phosphorus uptake efficiency productivity faba bean (Vicia L.) crop, under different fertilization levels organic or conventional cropping systems. 2-year field experiment conducted in central Greece laid out a split-plot design, with three replications, two main plots (AMF trea...

Potato microplants were inoculated with three commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculants, Vaminoc (MicroBio, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7SU, UK), Endorize IV and Glomus intraradices (both produced by Societe Biorize, 21000 Dijon, France) at establishment in the glasshouse. Monitoring of percentage root length colonization confirmed the persistence of all the mycorrhizal fungi during the trial. Colo...

Almost all land plants form symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi. These below-ground fungi play a key role in terrestrial ecosystems as they regulate nutrient and carbon cycles, and influence soil structure and ecosystem multifunctionality. Up to 80% of plant N and P is provided by mycorrhizal fungi and many plant species depend on these symbionts for growth and survival. Estimates sug...

1. In the conventional view of soil carbon (C) cycling, mycorrhizal fungi are primarily considered vectors for plant C input to soils. However, there is accumulating evidence that mycorrhizal fungi may also contribute to the direct loss of soil C by acting as decomposers, that is by producing extracellular lytic enzymes and metabolizing soil C. 2. Most of the evidence that mycorrhizal fungi can...