Aims our study quantified the combined effects of fertilization and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)on grain yield and allocation of biomass and nutrients in field-grown rice(Oryza sativa l.).Methods a two-factor experiment was conducted at a field site in northeast of China(in shuangcheng,Heilongjiang Province,songhua river basin):six nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer levels were provided(0,20,40,60,80 and 100%of the local norm of ferti-lizer supply),with or without inoculation with Glomus mosseae.at maturity,we quantified the percentage of root length colonization by AMF,grain yield,shoot:root ratios,shoot N and P contents and nutrients allocated to panicles,leaves and stems.Important Findingsas expected,inoculation resulted in greatly increased AMF colo-nization,which in turn led to higher shoot:root ratios and greater shoot N contents.shoot:root ratios of inoculated rice increased with increasing fertilization while there was a significant interaction between fertilization and inoculation on shoot:root ratio.additionally,a F inoculation increased panicle:shoot ratios,panicle N:shoot N ratios and panicle P:shoot P ratios,especially in plants grown at low fertilizer levels.Importantly,inoculated rice exhibited higher grain yield,with the maximum improvement(near 62%)at the lower fertilizer end.our results showed that(i)AMFinoculated plants conform to the functional equilibrium theory,albeit to a reduced extent compared to non-inoculated plants and(ii)AMF inoculation resulted in greater allocation of shoot biomass to panicles and increased grain yield by stimulating N and P redis-tribution to panicles.
Aims Changes in the phenotype of crops(phenotypic plasticity)are known to play an important role in determining responses to nutrient availability,with the direction and magnitude of plasticity of individual traits being crucial for grain yields.Our study analysed the direction,magnitude and hierarchy of plastic responses of yieldrelated traits(i.e.biomass allocation and yield components)of rice(Oryza sativa L.)to nutrient availability.We estimated the effect of inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)on these characteristics of phenotypic plasticity.Methods A field experiment was carried out in northeast China,providing rice with six NPK fertilizer levels with or without inoculation with Glomus mosseae.At maturity,we quantified biomass allocation traits(shoot:root ratio and panicle:shoot ratio)and yield component traits(panicle number per hill,spikelet number per panicle,percentage of filled spikelets and seed weight).We also assessed the direction of change in each trait and the magnitude of trait plasticity.Important Findings In non-inoculated plants,we found that biomass allocation and seed-number traits(i.e.panicle number per hill,spikelet number per panicle and percentage of filled spikelets)responded to fertilization in the same direction,increasing with rising fertilization.Panicle formation was the most plastic trait,while seed mass was the least plastic trait.AMF inoculation nullified the relationship between most biomass allocation and seed-number traits(except for that between panicle:shoot ratio and the percentage of filled spikelets)but increased the magnitude of plasticity in biomass allocation traits without altering the hierarchy of traits’plasticity.These results underscore the importance of plasticity of yield-related traits per se,and the impact of AMF on plasticity,for maintaining rice yields under low fertilization regimes.
Our study sought to assess how much phosphorus（P） runoff from paddy fields could be cut down by fertilizer management and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. A field experiment was conducted in Lalin River basin, in the northeast China： six nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer levels were provided（0, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of the recommended fertilizer supply）, with or without inoculation with Glomus mosseae. The volume and concentrations of particle P（PP） and dissolved P（DP） were measured for each runoff during the rice growing season. It was found that the seasonal P runoff, including DP and PP, under the local fertilization was 3.7 kg/ha, with PP, rather than DP, being the main form of P in runoff water. Additionally, the seasonal P runoff dropped only by 8.9% when fertilization decreased by 20%; rice yields decreased with declining fertilization. We also found that inoculation increased rice yields and decreased P runoff at each fertilizer level and these effects were lower under higher fertilization. Conclusively, while rice yields were guaranteed arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation and fertilizer management would play a key role in reducing P runoff from paddy fields.
