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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhance invasive plant, Ageratina adenophora growth and competition with native plants.

LI Li-qing1,2, ZHANG Ming-sheng1, LIANG Zuo-pan2, XIAO Bo2, WAN Fang-hao2, LIU Wan-xue2*   

  1. (1School of Life Sciences, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China; 2State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China)
  • Online:2016-01-10 Published:2016-01-10

Abstract: The interaction and feedback of exotic plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have been considered as one of the important invasive mechanisms of many invasive plants. In order to explore the role of AMF in the competition of  invasive plant, Ageratina adenophora over native plants, this study investigated the root AMF colonization rate and AMF content in A. adenophora and native plants beneath forest and its edge area. The results showed that A. adenophora had significantly higher root AMF colonization rate and AMF content than the native plants, and the root AMF colonization rate showed a significant positive correlation with the AMF content. In a greenhouse experiment through adding AMF of A. adenophora to soil, AMF significantly promoted the growth of A. adenophora, whose abilities of absorption of nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus were stronger than those of the native plant Rabdosia amethystoides. AMF also decreased the mycorrhizal dependency of R. amethystoides, and enhanced the competitive advantage of A. adenophora over the native plant. Our results further indicate that AMF is conducive to the promotion of competitive expansion of A. adenophora.

Key words: nitrogen application rate, potassium uptake and utilization, yield, direct-seeded cotton after wheat harvest