Abstract Detail

Symbioses: Plant, Animal, and Microbe Interactions

Gutierrez, Andrea [1], Twanabasu, Bishnu [2], Knapp, Emily [1].

Mycorrhizal Fungi Affected by Cover Crops.

Mycorrhizal fungi provide a way for plants to obtain nutrients that would otherwise be out of reach to plants, which is crucial to the agriculture and ecosystems. Cover crops are planted to manage the soil nutrients and to prevent erosion in agricultural lands. We established four cover crop plots and a control plot at Carter Farm located in Weatherford, Texas, USA to determine the effects of cover crop mix on mycorrhizal fungal colonization. Plot A contains native plants, plot B has Willman lovegrass and B-Dahl bluestem, plot C giant Bermuda grass, plot D winter wheat and legumes, and plot E is the control with no cover crops. Three random soil samples were collected from each plot to extract spores and roots. Extracted spores and roots were quantified under microscope at 200X magnification. We observed highly significantly (p≤0.05) different spore density across the plots with the highest spore density of 46.28±9.79 spores per gram of dry soil in plots planted with winter wheat and lowest spore density of 23.26±8.06 spores per gram of dry soil in the plot planted with Giant Bermuda grass. Interestingly, we found the lowest colonization level (54.67±6.65%) of hyphal colonization on the plot planted with native plant mix compared to all other plots. Willman love grass and bluestem mix plot was colonized with 75.50±4.64%, Giant Bermuda grass plot colonized with 74.00±2.76%, Winter wheat legume mix plot was colonized with 78.67±3.08% and Control plot without cover crops with 79.67±6.53% of hyphal colonization. We also observed a significantly different colonization of arbuscular coils among the treatment plots; however, vesicular and arbuscular colonizations were not significantly different across the treatment plots. Further studies to explore crop yield at the plots with respect to soil nutrients and AM fungi will help to understand the roles of mycorrhizal fungi.

1 - Weatherford College, 225 college park dr, weatherford, TX, 76086, United States
2 - Weatherford College, Biology, 109 Oakmont Dr, Argyle, TX, 76226, United States

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Poster
Number: PSM001
Abstract ID:449
Candidate for Awards:Phytochemical Best Poster Award