Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Associated with Rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Ghana: Effect of Regional Locations and Soil Factors on Diversity and Community Assembly

Abstract

Understanding the community composition and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in an agricultural ecosystem is important for exploiting their potential in sustainable crop production. In this study, we described the genetic diversity and community structure of indigenous AMF in rain-fed rice cultivars across six different regions in Ghana. The morphological and molecular analyses revealed a total of 15 different AMF genera isolated from rice roots. Rhizophagus and Glomus were observed to be predominant in all regions except the Ashanti region, which was dominated by the genera Scutellospora and Acaulospora. A comparison of AMF diversity among the agroecological zones revealed that Guinea Savannah had the highest diversity. Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance (PERMANOVA) analysis indicated that the available phosphorus (AP) in the soil was the principal determining factor for shaping the AMF community structure (p < 0.05). We report, for the first time, AMF diversity and community structure in rice roots and how communities are affected by the chemical properties of soil from different locations in Ghana.

Spatial variability and environmental drivers of cassava—arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) associations across Southern Nigeria

“…The differences in the number of OTUs could be due to differences in the target regions of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and to DNA having been extracted from the soil, not from cassava roots. When relating this result to that of other crops such as yam, studies in other Western African countries have confirmed that AMF communities associated with one particular crop can differ strongly from one agro-ecological zone to another (Tchabi et al 2008;Sarkodee-Addo et al 2020). Similarly, the dissimilarities among AMF composition revealed in this study were further corroborated by the study of Van der Gast et al ( 2011) that observed that geological characteristics (using a 250 km distance-decay analysis) significantly influenced AMF distribution in horticultural fields across England.…”

Grapevine rootstocks drive the community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in New Zealand vineyards

“…2004; Sarkodee‐Addo et al . 2020). However, understanding of the composition of AMF communities colonizing grapevines is still incomplete.…”

Exploring Rice Root Microbiome; The Variation, Specialization and Interaction of Bacteria and Fungi In Six Tropic Savanna Regions in Ghana

“…Moreover, in a recent study [35] we reported that colonization intensity and taxonomic compositions of AMF in rice roots vary significantly among major rice-producing regions in Ghana, with available phosphorus found as the essential factor driving AMF community structures in rice roots. We found that certain environmental factors such as C/N, NO 3 and importantly available phosphorus influenced community structuring of AMF in rice in Ghana.…”