Contrasting Nitrogen Fertilisation Rates Alter Mycorrhizal Contribution to Barley Nutrition in a Field Trial

Tom Thirkell; Duncan Cameron; Angela Hodge

doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.01312

Contrasting Nitrogen Fertilisation Rates Alter Mycorrhizal Contribution to Barley Nutrition in a Field Trial

Front Plant Sci. 2019 Oct 30:10:1312. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01312. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Tom Thirkell^{1

2}, Duncan Cameron², Angela Hodge¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
² Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Controlled environment studies show that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may contribute to plant nitrogen (N) uptake, but the role of these near-ubiquitous symbionts in crop plant N nutrition under natural field conditions remains largely unknown. In a field trial, we tested the effects of N fertilisation and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar identity on the contribution of AMF to barley N uptake using ¹⁵N tracers added to rhizosphere soil compartments. AMF were shown capable of significantly increasing plant ¹⁵N acquisition from root exclusion zones, and this was influenced by nitrogen addition type, N fertiliser application rate and barley cultivar identity. Our data demonstrate a previously overlooked potential route of crop plant N uptake which may be influenced substantially and rapidly in response to shifting agricultural management practices.

Keywords: arbuscular mycorrhiza; barley; field trial; nitrogen; plant ecophysiology.