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Pak. J. Bot., 44(6): 2087-2092, 2012.

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SEASONAL  DYNAMICS  IN  ARBUSCULAR  MYCORRHIZAL  FUNGAL COLONIZATION AND SPORE NUMBERS IN THE RHIZOSPHERE OF DACTYLIS GLOMERATA L. AND TRIFOLIUM REPENS L.

GUORONG XIN^1*, SHAOPING YE^{1, 4}, EN WU², YUTAO WANG¹ AND KAZUO SUGAWARA³

Abstract: The seasonal dynamics in the colonization of the rhizosphere of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) pastures by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and the production of spores in an artifical Japanese grassland was investigated over 12 months (between December 2001 and December 2002). The results showed that the AM fungal colonization fluctuated seasonally in the rhizosphere of both pastures. The total AM fungal colonization of the two pastures decreased during winter, then increased from March to June as the pastures grew, but slightly decreased again in July and August, and again followed an increase in September. There was significant difference of the colonization by arbuscules and vesicles between the two pastures (p<0.05). Besides, the vesicular colonization of orchardgrass was higher than that of white clover, but the opposite trend was observed for arbuscular colonization. Similarly, the numbers of AM fungal spores in the pastures varied throughout the year, decreasing from spring to summer, then slowly increasing in late summer, reaching peak levels in winter. There is significant correlation between the frequency of spores in the rhizosphere soil and both soil temperature and pH.

¹Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Dynamics and Conservation of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.

²College of Ecology and Environmental Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Huhhot 010018, China.

³Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 981-0914, Japan.

⁴Guangzhou Institute of Landscape Gardening, Guangzhou 510710, China.

*Corresponding author: lssxgr@mail.sysu.edu.cn