Effect of Septoria leaf blotch and its control with commercial fungicides, on arbuscular-mycorrhizal-fungal colonization, spore numbers, and morphotype diversity

摘要

Arbuscular-mycorrhizal internal structures (i.e. total root colonization, arbuscules, vesicles) and external structures (i.e. spore density), and Glomeromycota spore morphotypes, were evaluated in wheat severely infected with Mycosphaerella graminicola - the causal agent of Septoria leaf blotch. Plots in which the infection was controlled with a commercial fungicide at recommended field doses, were also examined. The commercial fungicide used was an admixture of trifloxistrobin and tebuconazole. No negative effects of the fungicide application on arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were found. The M. graminicola fungicidal treatment actually favoured the formation of arbuscules and AMF spores, as there was a selective increase in the density of spores belonging to the glomoid morphotype. Arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungi have an absolute dependence on the carbon provided by the plant. A severe foliar disease leading to a diminished carbon supply to the roots would generate decreases in carbon availability. Such decreases would strongly affect mycorrhizal associations and development. Furthermore, the change in the green-leaf area produced by a severe foliar disease and/or a reversal of that condition through fungicide treatment could result in shifts inthe composition of the AMF community so as to favour glomoid morphotypes. Glomoid species have been previously considered as r-strategists.