A. Füzy, T. Tóth, B. Biró. 2007. Mycorrhizal colonisation can be altered by the direct
and indirect effect of drought and salt in a split root experiment. Cereal Research
Communications. 35 (2) 401-404.

Abstract

Technical literature data about the effects of saline or sodic soil on the rates of arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) colonisation are rather controversial. Salt was reported to
inhibit mycorrhizal colonisation, spore germination, hyphal elongation and spore-forming
activity (Juniper and Abbott 1993), while on the contrary several halophytes are reported
to be heavily colonized by AMF at salt affected sites (Hildebrandt et al. 2000). This
relative paradoxon can be partly explaind by the manner of the plant-endomycorrhyza
symbiosis: a halophyte macrosymbiont host with the microsymbiont endomycorrhiza
partner can better tolerate the suboptimal or extreme conditions. The stressbuffer effect of
some beneficial microbes in this respect was reported by Biro et al. (2000). To maintain
the symbiosis by the macrosymbiont host can be a „profitable investment”, where the
assimilates, carbohydrates are generally refunded with macro- and micronutrients by the
fungi. The increased plant acquisition capacity or the limitation of salt uptake are all
important conditions of the symbiosis in poor quality salt affected soils (Ruiz-Lozano and
Azcon 2000; Marschner 1998). After thesese findings, our hypothesis is that the
enhancement of mycorrhizal colonisation in the saline soils can be the result of a
communication process between the macro- and microsymbiont partners. As a
consequence of this the salt adaptation mechanisms of the halophytes can be related by
the incresed mycorrhizal colonisation (Fuzy et al. 2006). Our aim in this study was to
demonstrate this hypothesis in a split-root experiment, where the direct effects of the
rhizosphere towards the mycorrhiza fungi can be well separated from the plant-mediated
physiological actions. Stress-factors, such as the salt and the drought were examined,
which are known to be the most prominent plant-growth-retardation reasons at the salt
affected sites.