Arbuscular mycorrhizas increased tomato biomass and nutrition but did not affect local soil P availability or 16S bacterial community in the field.

While interest in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal effects on soil phosphorus (P) have recently increased, field experiments on this topic are lacking. While microcosm studies provided valuable insights, the lack of field studies represents a knowledge gap. Here, we present a field study in which we grew a mycorrhiza-defective tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.

Effects of plant roots and arbuscular mycorrhizas on soil phosphorus leaching.

While the impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on phosphorus (P) uptake is well understood, the mechanism(s) of how these fungi affect P leaching from soil is still unclear. Here we present results of a study in which we grew a mycorrhiza-defective tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotype (named rmc) and its mycorrhizal wild-type progenitor (named 76R) in microcosms containing non-sterile soil, to examine the influence of roots and AMF on P leaching.