Fig. 1 Aboveground height as affected by root sugar (a), N content of leaf as affected by Zn (b) or sugar content of leaf (c), and aboveground height as affected by root Zn (d)

One-year-old seedlings of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) are not colonized with ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi, but often colonized with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. The AM fungi could be important for nutrient acquisition in Chinese fir seedlings. Previous studies show that feedbacks between aboveground and belowground plant tissues play a fundamental role in controlling the interaction between plants and AM fungi. Our results indicate significant feedback in seedlings grown on shrubland soils, but not on plowed soils. The amounts of sugar in fir leaves in the shrubland soils were significantly lower than those in plowed soils. Leaf zinc (Zn) and nitrogen (N) concentrations were significantly higher in seedlings in shrubland soils than in plowed soils. In mycorrhizal seedlings growing in shrubland soils, leaf N:P ratios were significantly higher than those in plowed soils, likely because of enhanced N absorption through AM-mediated process. Leaf N:P ratios in seedlings grown on plowed soils were below the threshold levels, because of low metabolic activity of feedback in AM-mediated process. The results suggested that the presence of feedback between Chinese fir seedlings and AM fungi should be benefit in transplanting Chinese fir seedlings.

Publication name	BIOLOGY AND FERTILITY OF SOILS　Volume:47 　Issue:6 　Pages:721-727　 Published:AUG 2011
Author(s)	Piao, He-Chun; Liu, Cong-Qiang
Corresponding author	PIAO Hechun 　piaohechun@vip.skleg.cn 　Chinese Acad Sci, State Key Lab Environm Geochem, Inst Geochem, Guiyang 550002, Peoples R China

View here for the full text from the publisher