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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #307387
Title: Comparison of biochemical and microscopic methods for quantification of mycorrhizal fungi in soil and roots

Author
item SHARMA, MAHAVEER - Indian Council Of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
item Buyer, Jeffrey

Submitted to: Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2015
Publication Date: 7/1/2015
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/61273
Citation: Sharma, M.P., Buyer, J.S. 2015. Comparison of biochemical and microscopic methods for quantification of mycorrhizal fungi in soil and roots. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 95:86-89. doi: 10.10161j.apsoil.2015.06.001

Interpretive Summary: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are plant symbionts that aid plants by increasing nutrient uptake, protecting against certain plant pathogens, enhancing drought tolerance, and improving soil aggregation. Traditional methods for measuring mycorrhizal fungi involve tedious microscopic examination and time-consuming plant growth experiments. A number of biochemical methods for measuring mycorrhizal fungi have been published, but they have not all been compared to each other or to the traditional methods. We compared two traditional methods to four biochemical methods. Remarkably, the simplest biochemical method, ester-linked fatty acid analysis, gave the best results. This will be very useful to agronomists and mycologists who need to measure arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in field and greenhouse experiments.

Technical Abstract: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are well-known plant symbionts which provide enhanced phosphorus uptake as well as other benefits to their host plants. Quantification of mycorrhizal biomass and root colonization has traditionally been performed by root staining and microscopic examination methods, which are time-consuming, laborious, and difficult to reproduce between laboratories. A number of biochemical markers for estimating mycorrhizal hyphae and spores have been published. In this study we compared two microscopic methods, spore counts and root colonization, to four biomarker methods: neutral lipid fatty acid, phospholipid fatty acid, ester-linked fatty acid, and sterol analysis. Ester-linked fatty acid analysis gave consistent results for both spore counts and root colonization, but neutral lipid fatty acid analysis had the highest correlation to AMF spore counts.