Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Promoting Phosphorus Uptake in plants

Author: Javaid Ahmad*, D. P. Sharma*, Razia Shuab**and Rafiq Lone***

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Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are most widespread endosymbionts that show a mutualistic association with the majority of terrestrial plants. AMF are known to play a key role in the growth and development of host plant, mainly by enhancing water as well as soil nutrient uptake. Most of the soil nutrients like Nitrogen, phosphorous etc., although present in large amounts are either highly immobile or least available to plants, but quite essential for plant growth and development. AMF aids plants in the uptake of such immobile essential soil nutrients. Phosphorous (P) is one of such essential and critical soil nutrient, making around 0.2% of the plant dry matter. Phosphorous being very much immobile and poorly soluble becomes one of the difficult soil nutrient for plants to uptake. Recent studies have reckoned AMF to be highly beneficial for soil fertility that emphatically helps in phosphorous uptake. In this review paper consolidation of literature is made about the mutualistic sym

Keywords

AMF, Phosphorus, Plant Growth, Nutrient Uptake

Conclusion

The phosphorus nutrition of plants is mainly controlled by phosphorus dynamics in the soil, rhizosphere and plant continuum. Given the importance of phosphorus to plants, chemical fertilizers are being used over a long period of time, however chemical fertilizers have adverse toxic effects on the production potential of the land and the ultimate consumers of the products. Ahmad, Sharma, Shuab and Lone 50 Toxic residues of agricultural chemicals entering the human diet are of major concern today. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers causes environmental pollution both at the manufacturing and application sites. It is therefore most necessary to reduce the dependence on chemical inputs in agriculture. This is possible only through eco-friendly approaches of farming system. Besides other biotechnological interventions, the arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi asso

References

In nature, association is a wonted phenomenon occurring over a wide range but understanding beneficial associations is a bit difficult task for biologists, ecologists and agronomists to elaborate as the processes like evolution, natural selection, extinction may aid selfish performances (West et al., 2007; Harcombe, 2010; Rainey & De Monte, 2014). So for finding a solution to this problem a strategic theoretical along with empirical efforts have been made by carrying experiments, investigations on a wide range of organisms on both specie as well as symbiotic species (Keller and Chapuisat, 1999; Griffin et al., 2004; Douglas, 2008). It is quite astonishing that symbiotic associations between AM fungi and roots of higher plants though being 450 million years old (Smith and Read, 2008) although not being fully unzipped (Walder et al., 2012, 2015) as yet have been recently described (Bever et al., 2009; Kiers et al., 2011). The symbiotic associations of plant roots and fungi have fascinat

How to cite this article

Javaid Ahmad, D. P. Sharma, Razia Shuab and Rafiq Lone (2017). Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Promoting Phosphorus Uptake in plants , Biological Forum – An International Journal 9(2): 44-53.