Effects of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizae on Plants Growing Under Salt Stress

Under salt (NaCl) stress, onions (Allium cepa) and bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) inoculated with either Glomus fasciculatus or Gigaspora margarita grew larger than the nonmycorrhizal controls. To determine if improved phosphate (P) nutrition supplied by the mycorrhizal endophytes was the factor most responsible for enhancing growth under saline conditions inoculated bell peppers were compared to uninoculated controls supplemented with P fertilizer. Leaf P concentrations were 1.5x greater G. fasciculatus inoculated and uninoculated P fertilized treatments than in G. margarita inoculated treatments and 2x greater than the unfertilized low P treatments. The increased P level of the leaves was accompanied by a 2.5 to 4 fold increase in chloride (Cl) concentrations; however, Na levels did not increase with increasing P. Increased P nutrition of a plant may convey tolerance to high Cl levels; such that, under saline conditions bell peppers inoculated with G. fasciculatus gain the additional P required to tolerate salt stress better than plants inoculated with G. margarita or nonmycorrhizal low P plants.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Plant Pathology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Hirrel, Marc Charles

• Agriculture, Plant Pathology

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8108539

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/67451