title: Interactions between biochar and mycorrhizal fungi in a water-stressed agricultural soil.
abstract: Biochar may alleviate plant water stress in association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi but research has not been conclusive. Therefore, a glasshouse experiment was conducted to understand how interactions between AM fungi and plants respond to biochar application under water-stressed conditions. A twin chamber pot system was used to determine whether a woody biochar increased root colonisation by a natural AM fungal population in a pasture soil ('field' chamber) and whether this was associated with increased growth of extraradical AM fungal hyphae detected by plants growing in an adjacent ('bait') chamber containing irradiated soil. The two chambers were separated by a mesh that excluded roots. Subterranean clover was grown with and without water stress and harvested after 35, 49 and 63 days from each chamber. When biochar was applied to the field chamber under water-stressed conditions, shoot mass increased in parallel with mycorrhizal colonisation, extraradical hyphal length and shoot phosphorus concentration. AM fungal colonisation of roots in the bait chamber indicated an increase in extraradical mycorrhizal hyphae in the field chamber. Biochar had little effect on AM fungi or plant growth under well-watered conditions. The biochar-induced increase in mycorrhizal colonisation was associated with increased growth of extraradical AM fungal hyphae in the pasture soil under water-stressed conditions.
authors.affiliation: Soil Biology and Molecular Ecology Group, School of Earth and Environment (M087), Crawley, Australia. bedemickan@gmail.com.|UWA Institute of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia. bedemickan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bede S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Mickan
authors.affiliation: Soil Biology and Molecular Ecology Group, School of Earth and Environment (M087), Crawley, Australia.|UWA Institute of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Lynette K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.affiliation: UWA Institute of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stefanova
authors.affiliation: Soil Biology and Molecular Ecology Group, School of Earth and Environment (M087), Crawley, Australia.|UWA Institute of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Zakaria M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Solaiman
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002606:Charcoal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000502:physiology; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D029921:Trifolium / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; C540010:biochar; D014867:Water; D002606:Charcoal; D010758:Phosphorus
keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Biochar; Extraradical hyphal spread; Water stress