In previous studies we demonstrated that for Abutilon theophrasti Medic, offspring of mycorrhizal plants grew more rapidly than did offspring of non-mycorrhizal plants. This observation was verified in the current study. We hypothesized that the faster growth of offspring of mycorrhizal plants was caused by a superior ability to absorb nutrients, since offspring of mycorrhizal plants produced faster-growing root systems with higher phosphatase activities. We tested the hypothesis by growing offspring plants in distilled water. Despite the absence of any nutrients short-term growth rates of offspring of mycorrhizal plants were still significantly greater than those of offspring of non-mycorrhizal plants. We conclude that the faster growth of offspring of mycorrhizal plants is nor caused by a superior ability to acquire external resources.
Keywords: Abutilon theophrasti; Maternal effects; offspring vigour; seed nutrient content.