Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization in Asteraceae from white sand savannas, in Pinar del Río, Cuba

Abstract

Asteraceae family shows a great diversity in Cuba and presents threatened taxons in high number. Pinar del Río has 19 threatened species belonging to this family and three of them are characteristic of a sandy (quartzitic) soil at the Reserva Florística Manejada San Ubaldo-Sabanalamar (Floristic Reserve San Ubaldo-Sabanalamar). The arbuscular mycorrhizal status and colonization rate in Aster grisebachii, Erigeron bellidiastroides, Erigeron cuneifolius, Pectis juniperina and Sachsia polycephala (Asteraceae) from this Reserve was determined in October 2009 and April 2010, during hydrologic rainy and dry period, respectively. All species were mycotrophic in both periods with a high percentage of colonization rates, between 66 and 100% in rainy period and between 84 and 100% in dry period. Vesicles, arbuscules, spores, hyphal and arbuscular coils of arbuscular mycorrhizae were observed. Paris -type and Arum -type morphologies (both) were observed indistinctly in all the species, and Intermediate type was observed only in Aster grisebachii and Erigeron bellidiastroides , which could be a hint that these species are colonized by more than one fungal species, and therefore enhancing the relevance of fungal identity as a considerable character in the morphology association. Also, septate hyphae and microsclerotium of dark septate endophytes were identifyed inside the roots of all the species. Resumen: La familia Asteraceae muestra una gran diversidad en Cuba y presenta un elevado número de taxones amenazados. Pinar del Río cuenta con 19 especies amenazadas pertenecientes a esta familia, de las cuales tres son características de los suelos arenosos cuarcíticos de la Reserva Florística Manejada San Ubaldo-Sabanalamar. Se determinó el estatus micorrízico arbuscular y la tasa de colonización de Aster grisebachii, Erigeron bellidiastroides, Erigeron cuneifolius ,Pectis juniperina y Sachsia polycephala (Asteraceae) presentes en esta Reserva, en octubre del 2009 y abril del 2010, durante los períodos hidrológicos húmedo y seco, respectivamente. Todas las especies estaban micorrizadas en ambos períodos con elevados porcentaje de colonización micorrízica, entre 66 y 100% en el período lluvioso y entre 84 y 100% en el período seco. Se identificaron vesículas, arbúsculos, esporas, enrollados hifales y arbusculares característicos de las micorrizas arbusculares. Los tipos morfológicos Paris y Arum (ambos) fueron observados indistintamente en todas las especies, y el tipo Intermedio solo se observó en Aster grisebachii y Erigeron bellidiastroides, lo cual sugiere la colonización de estas especies por más de una especie fúngica y con ello la importancia de la identidad fúngica en la determinación de la morfología de la asociación. Se identificaron además, hifas septadas y microesclerosios de endófitos oscuros septados en el interior de las raíces de todas las especies estudiadas.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal association in Asteraceae plants growing in the arid lands of Saudi Arabia

“…Mycorrhizal occurrence which was previously reported in the genera of Asteraceae plants studied in the present programme (Johnson-Green et al, 1995;Shi et al, 2006;Wang and Qiu, 2006;Shah et al, 2008;Al-Qarawi et al, 2009;Estrada et al, 2013;Hemavani and Thippeswamy, 2013a). In fact, Asteraceae is a highly mycotrophic family of which 233 species were studied and were identified as arbuscular mycorrhizal (Wang and Qiu, 2006;Rodríguez-Rodríguez et al, 2013). The AMF structures in the agricultural, flowering, medicinal and ephemeral plants of Asteraceae family were reported previously in habitats of different countries including arid land and desert ecosystems (Rai and Acharya, 1999;O'Connor et al, 2001;Shi et al, 2006;Kumar et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2012;Hemavani and Thippeswamy, 2013a).…”

“…Preserved roots after washing in water were stained with 0.05% trypan blue by following established method (Philips and Hayman, 1970;Koske and Gemma, 1989) with little modifications (Dhar and Mridha, 2006;Rodríguez-Rodríguez et al, 2013 …”

“…For each sample, 100 g soil was processed to study the number of spores and AMF species diversity by wet sieving and decanting (Gerdemann and Nicolson, 1963) followed by centrifugation in sucrose solution with some modifications (Dhar and Mridha, 2006;Rodríguez-Rodríguez et al, 2013). The series of ASTM-60 (250 µm), ASTM-270 (53 µm) and ASTM-400 (38 µm) sieves were used to extract the spores from soil-water suspension.…”

“…Reports on the AM association in the Asteraceae plant species are available in Cuba (Rodríguez-Rodríguez et al, 2013), India (Hemavani and Thippeswamy, 2013a), USA (Koske and Gemma, 2002;Conrad and Segraves, 2013), China (Bai et al, 2012) and Australia (Warcup and McGee, 1983). Herbaceous Asteraceae plants were mycorrhizal in Bhadra Wildlife sanctuary in India (Hemavani and Thippeswamy, 2013a).…”

Funcionalidad de hongos micorrízicos arbusculares en tres comunidades vegetales de la Reserva Florística Manejada de San Ubaldo-Sabanalamar, Cuba

“…By contrast, the threatened flora of the Pinar del Río province in Western Cuba ascend to 346 taxa, which represents approximately 10.55% from 3 278 vascular plants described in that province (Urquiola, González-Olia, Novo, & Acosta, 2010). Rodríguez-Rodríguez (2013) and Rodrí-guez-Rodríguez, Herrera and Furrazola, (2013) assessed the rate of mycorrhizal colonization as an indicator of unique mycorrhizal activity. They evaluated the mycorrhizal colonization rate in five host species belonging to Asteraceae during the rainy and dry seasons at the Managed Floristic Reserve.…”