Variable carbon-sink strength of different Glomus mosseae strains colonizing barley roots

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Abstract
Root carbon (C) partitioning was investigated in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) colonized by one of three strains of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) Glomus mosseae (Nicolson & Gerdemann) Gerd. & Trappe. The roots of each plant were evenly divided between two compartments of a split-root system and one side was inoculated with one of the three AMF strains. Twenty-three days after inoculation barley shoots were labeled with 14CO2. Twenty-four hours later, plants were harvested and the mycorrhizal (M) and nonmycorrhizal (NM) roots were analyzed separately for 14C. Partitioning of C between M and NM sides differed between the fungal strains: BEG 54 was a strong C sink, BEG 55 was a moderately strong C sink, and BEG 12 showed similar C-sink strength as the non-inoculated control plants. The observed differences in C-sink strength mirrored differences in plant dry biomass. Total plant dry biomass of plants inoculated with BEG 12, BEG54, and BEG 55 represented 81.3%, 65.3%, and 73.4% of the biomass of the control plants, respectively. This paper is the first report of an AMF strain-specific variation of C partitioning in M plants in a split-root system.Key words: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, barley (Hordeum vulgare), carbon sink, Glomus mosseae, strain variability.