Multiple factors influence the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in soil aggregation—a meta-analysis

Influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculum produced on-farm and phosphorus on growth and nutrition of native woody plant species from Brazil

“…These fungi colonize the plant root cortex and spread their hyphae into the surrounding soil where they scavenge for low mobility nutrients like phosphorus, which they translocate back to the plant host; in turn they receive from the Luis Claudio Goetten, Geraldo Moretto and Sidney Luiz Stürmer plants carbon compounds to grow and complete their life cycle (Smith & Read 2008). They also confer to the plants resistance against pathogen (Wehner et al 2011), and improvement in water relations (Auge 2004), as well as impacting soil structure (Leifheit et al 2014). Considering all these benefits of the mycorrhizal association, inoculation of woody species' seedlings under nursery conditions is a strategy to reduce costs of chemical fertilizers and to produce seedlings with good vigor which would translate into high survival and growth at the field (Zangaro et al 2003;Vandressen et al 2007;Carneiro et al 1996).…”

Increases in Soil Aggregation Following Phosphorus Additions in a Tropical Premontane Forest are Not Driven by Root and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Abundances

“…Roots may indirectly affect aggregate stability by impacts on soil water regimes, support of soil microbial communities and dead root decomposition, but also directly via physical enmeshment of soil particles and the exudation of organic cementing agents (Angers and Caron, 1998;Hallett et al, 2009). Likewise, mycorrhizal fungal hyphae have been shown to have effects either indirectly, via influences on soil microbial communities, plant growth and root architecture as well as rapid hyphal turnover as C source, but also directly by physical hyphal enmeshment and the secretion of extracellular compounds (Rillig et al, 2002;Leifheit et al, 2014b), even though the precise mechanisms remain unknown.…”

Microbial Inoculants for Soil Quality and Plant Health

“…These processes are important for soil aggregation because of the space occupied by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the soil system. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi produce significant biomass and represent dominant fungal biomass in agricultural soil (Rillig and Mummey 2006) and this is probably the reason for the positive effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculation on soil aggregation as reported by Leifheit et al (2014). Considering the agricultural practices that are damaging to the soil structure, the use of mycorrhizal inoculants will not only help in the nutrition of crops, but also enhance the structural stability of agricultural soil.…”

“…Mycorrhizas are well recognized for their role in the improvement of soil structure (Leifheit et al 2014). According to Rillig and Mummey (2006), mycorrhiza can influence soil aggregation at three main different scales; plant community, individual host plant root and fungal mycelium.…”

“…This is not far from the fact fungi have extensive hyphal networks that enable them to access a larger volume of soil. These help fungi to regulate osmotic stress more effectively than bacteria (Leifheit et al 2014). In the same vein Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi show greater tolerance to drought than the saprophytic group (Davinic et al 2013).…”