Growth of Citrus volkameriana inoculated with AM fungi in moist or periodically dry soils

Abstract

‘Volkamer’ lemon (Citrus volkameriana Tan. and Pasq.) seedlings were inoculated with either of five communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi collected from either citrus orchards in Mesa and Yuma, Arizona or from undisturbed Sonoran or Chihuahuan desert soils. Plants were then grown for four months under low or high irrigation frequency treatments such that soil water tension reached about -0.01 MPa (moist) or -0.06 MPa (periodically dry), respectively. Plants grown in moist substrate had greater shoot mass than plants grown in periodically dry substrate. Plants inoculated with AM fungi from the Yuma orchard soil had significantly less shoot and root mass, higher specific soil respiration rates, and lower photosynthesis rates than plants treated with inoculum from other soils. Plant phosphorus nutrition did not limit growth. These data show that growth of ‘Volkamer’ lemon seedlings can be substantially affected by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in moist or periodically dry soils.