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Composted materials with high humic and microbial content, and their water extracts, are increasingly used in the nursery industry as potting mix components or as liquid amendments for the purposes of enhancing plant growth. Common speculation is that such materials either contain beneficial microbes or stimulate those in or added to the medium, such as vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi, known to have growth-stimulating effects on plants. Experiments were conducted to determine if one such compost enhanced plant growth by stimulating VAM fungi or other growth-enhancing microbes, by simply providing limiting nutrients [phosphorus (P)], or a combination of the two. Highly mycorrhiza-responsive onion (Allium cepa) `White Lisbon' was used to evaluate the interactions of composted grape pomace (CGP), the VAM fungus Glomus intraradices, and preplant soil heat treatment on onion growth under P-limiting conditions. CGP and its water extract stimulated onion growth under P-limiting conditions in the absence of VAM; the extract was more effective than the granular CGP. Growth was enhanced further by addition of G. intraradices, and the extract enhanced its colonization of roots. Heat pretreatment of the soil inconsistently affected growth-enhancement by CGP or its extract. Thus, inoculating plant roots with mycorrhizal fungi in combination with this composted organic amendment or its extract was beneficial. The effect could have been due to the CGP providing a source of P to overcome the P-limiting conditions, and to the mycorrhizal fungus enhancing P uptake by its extraradical hyphae and thereby increasing nutrient-use efficiency.
Phytophthora ramorum survived in potting media infested with sporangia or chlamydospores, allowing the pathogen to remain undetected while disseminated geographically. Chlamydospores or oospores of P. ramorum, Pythium irregulare, Thielaviopsis basicola, and Cylindrocladium scoparium produced in vermiculite culture were used to infest potting media. Infested media in plastic plug flats were treated with aerated steam mixtures from 45 to 70 °C for 30 min. In a second experiment, infested media were fumigated in polyethylene bags with a concentration series of metam sodium ranging from 0.25 to 1.0 mL·L−1. Survival of the pathogens was determined by selective baiting or direct plating the infested media on PARP selective medium. Assays indicated that all pathogens in the infested potting media were killed by aerated steam heat treatments of 50 °C or higher. Metam sodium concentrations of 1.0 mL·L−1 of medium or greater also eradicated all pathogens from the potting medium and soil. These results show that aerated steam treatment or fumigation with metam sodium can effectively sanitize soil-less potting media infested with P. ramorum or other soilborne pathogens, as well as P. ramorum-infested soil beneath infected plant containers. In addition, steam treatments to 70 °C did not melt plastic plug trays.
Formation of arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) has been inhibited in soilless potting mixes that usually contain some proportion of peat moss. The cause of the inhibition has been thought to be high fertilizer P content in the media that suppresses spread of the fungal symbiont in the root tissue. However, there has also been some suggestion that the peats themselves may contribute to the inhibition. That possibility was explored in this study. A sandy-loam soil, in which mycorrhizae consistently enhance plant growth under P-limiting conditions, was amended with six different peats. Onions (Allium cepa 'White Lisbon'), as an indicator host, were grown in the mixes under P-limiting conditions, and were inoculated or not with the AM fungi Glomus deserticola or Gigaspora rosea. Plant growth response to inoculation with AM fungi (AMF) varied with the type of peat and AMF isolate. Inoculated plants generally had the highest root biomass when grown in soil amended with peat. Root colonization by the two fungal symbionts was also affected differently by different peat amendments. Root colonization by Glomus deserticola and Gigaspora rosea was inhibited by at least half of the peat types. However, the types of peat inhibitory to Gigaspora rosea colonization were not the same as those inhibitory to Glomus deserticola colonization. These results indicate that different peat amendments can suppress or enhance mycorrhiza formation on onion roots and resultant growth benefit under P-limiting conditions, depending on the mycorrhizal fungus used.
Abstract
The freezing of water within the young trees of peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] was monitored using differential thermal analysis (DTA). Ice formation was initiated near −2°C. A logarithmic relationship between ice nucleation temperature and tissue sample size was observed. This suggested that the use of small tissue samples to estimate ice nucleation temperature may overestimate the extent of supercooling which would be observed in intact plants. The ice-nucleating agent associated with peach shoots active at − 2° was: 1) present in both field- and greenhouse-grown plants; 2) associated with overwintering dormant tissue and throughout blossom development; 3) resistant to surface disinfestants; 4) resistant to bacterial nucleation inhibitors; and 5) inactivated by autoclaving.
Coconut fiber dust (coir) is being used as a peat substitute or amendment to potting mixes with varied results. However, its microbial composition and compatibility with beneficial microbes that might be added to growth media in the nursery, such as mycorrhizal fungi, has not been determined. In this study, coir was amended to a peat-based medium (15%, 30%, 45%, and 60% by volume) to determine its effects on growth of several ornamental plants and on the formation and function of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices. Mycorrhizae formed as well, and usually better, in all the coir-amended peat treatments as in peat alone. The magnitude of growth enhancement due to mycorrhizae was small for the plants tested in these media compared to that which usually occurs in soil-based media. In this experiment, plant growth responses appeared to be independent of level of mycorrhizal colonization and were plant species dependent. Consistent growth enhancement from mycorrhizae only occurred with marigold (Tagetes patula). With germander (Teucrium fruticans), growth was depressed with mycorrhizal inoculation in the medium composed of 60% coir. Growth of lavender (Lavandula augustifolia) was depressed in all coir-amended media, with or without AM inoculation, compared to the nonamended control. These results confirm previous reports of varied response of plant species to coir, and indicate the lack of any detrimental effects of coir on mycorrhiza formation.
Formation and function of arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) are affected by levels of fertility in soil or fertilizers applied to soilless container mixes. For AM fungi, phosphorus (P) is the main element influencing colonization of host plant roots. The question addressed in this study was whether inorganic or organic fertilizers were more compatible with the formation and function of AM. Several controlled-release inorganic (CRI) fertilizers were compared with several organic (OR) fertilizers at different rates (½× to 4× the recommended rate) to determine (1) threshold levels of tolerance by the AM fungus Glomus intraradices in relation to root colonization, and (2) growth responses of `Guardsman' bunching onion (Allium cepa) and `Orange Cupido' miniature rose (Rosa spp.) plants grown in a soilless potting mix or sandy loam soil. AM colonization in soil was greatly decreased or totally inhibited by CRI fertilizers with high P content at the 2× rate or greater, whereas colonization was decreased but never eliminated by low-P OR fertilizers at the 3× rate or greater. Shoot growth of onions was similar with or without AM inoculation when fertilized with CRI, but in general was only enhanced by OR fertilizers if inoculated with AM fungi, compared to the noninoculated controls. Shoot and root growth of onions were significantly increased by AM inoculation when OR fertilizers were used at the 1× rate. In contrast, root growth was not increased by the combination of CRI fertilizers and AM fungal inoculation. Inoculation of miniature roses grown in sandy loam amended with 25% peat and perlite and fertilized with all the CRI or OR fertilizers resulted in high AM colonization, but without much AM-induced growth increase except where OR fertilizers or CRI fertilizers with low P were used. In a soilless potting mix, growth of miniature roses was less with OR fertilizers at the rates used than CRI fertilizers, but mycorrhiza formation was greater in the former unless P was low in the latter. These results indicate that release of nutrients from organic fertilizers, as a result of microbial activity, favors AM establishment and function more than most inorganic fertilizers unless P levels of the latter are low.
Abstract
Research on the role of ice nucleation active bacteria in frost injury in plants has led to renewed interest in determining the temperature that ice formation is initiated in plant tissues (1, 3-6). We recently determined the temperature at which water froze in mature nectarine trees (Prunus persica L. Batsch) under field conditions (4). Trees supercooled very little prior to freezing. Ice formation was initiated between −0.6° and −2.6°C. We noted that ice formation was initiated at several locations within the tree and subsequently spread throughout. The speed at which ice propagated throughout the tree depended on the prevailing weather conditions.
Abstract
No relationship was observed between the population of ice nucleation active (INA) bacteria and the temperature at which ice formed in peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] shoots. The ice nucleation temperature remained stable throughout the year, even during periods when INA bacteria were not detected. An intrinsic ice nucleating substance seemed to be responsible for initiating ice formation and limited supercooling to about —2°C. The ice nucleating agent seemed to be a constitutive component of mature wood and was stable under a range of chemical treatments. Ice nucleation was influenced by sample mass, temperature, and length of exposure. The freezing behavior of peach shoots was best described using a stochastic model of ice nucleation.
Abstract
Experiments were conducted to determine the relative contributions of bacterial and nonbacterial ice nuclei to freezing of peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] shoots. Exposure to 33°C for 3 hr eliminated bacterial ice nuclei active at −3° on inoculated shoot pieces, but controls were not affected. In another experiment, ice nucleation temperatures and ice nucleation-active (INA) bacterial populations of field-collected shoots were determined. Mean freezing temperatures of 20 g (fresh weight) shoots were not significantly different in the presence or absence of INA bacteria (detection limit of 10 cells/g fresh weight). INA bacteria were detected on 19% of the shoots with a maximum natural population of 180 cells/g fresh weight. Inoculation studies indicated that 20 g fresh weight peach shoots contained a mean of 1.0 nonbacterial (−3°) ice nuclei, while shoots with 180 INA cells/g fresh weight averaged 1.4 (−3°) ice nuclei per 20 g. Most ice nuclei active at −3° were of nonbacterial origin.
Abstract
Ice formation was initiated between –0.6° and –2.6°C in mature Prunus persica (L.) Batsch trees growing in the field. Trees supercooled very little. Ice formation was initiated at several locations in the tree and subsequently spread throughout. The release of the latent heat of fusion following ice formation in the tissue maintained tissue temperatures 1° to 3° above air temperature for several hours and mitigated the tissue's response to ambient temperatures.