ICOM 2 abstract
The influence of the extramatrical mycelium on growth and nutrition of mycorrhizal Norway Spruce (Picea abies)
BRANDES, BETTINA, GEORG JENTSCHKE & DOUGLAS L. GODBOLD.
Forest Ecosystem Research Centre, Institute of Forest Botany, University of Goettingen, Buesgenweg 2, D-37077 Goettingen, GERMANY.
The contribution of the extramatrical mycelium to N and P nutrition
of mycorrhizal Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) was investigated.
Plants either inoculated with Paxillus involutus or non mycorrhizal
were grown in a two compartment sand culture system where hyphae were separated
from roots by a 45mm-nylon net. Al added to
the hyphal compartment as a tracer of mass flow was not detected in the plant
compartment, indicating that measurements of N and P transfer by the mycelium
were not biassed by solute movement across the nylon net.
Mycorrhizal plants with N and P added to the hyphal compartment had 2-3 fold greater shoot length, dry weight and N and P content than plants receiving no N and P in the hyphal compartment. Hyphal density was highest in the middle of the hyphal compartment, i. e. at the site of N and P addition. By contrast, in the treatment without N and P it decreased with growing distance from the plant compartment.
In this experiment, the extramatrical mycelium responded to a local N and P source with increased hyphal density. The mycelium contributed approximately 70% to total N and P utake causing a strong growth response.
Contact address: BRANDES, BETTINA; Forest Ecosystem Research Centre, Institute of Forest Botany, University of Goettingen, Buesgenweg 2, D-37077 Goettingen, Germany.
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