and farming practices drive arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in French vineyards.

Background: Nature-based management of vineyards is at the heart of a sustainable development for the next decades. Although much is known about grapevine benefits from Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF), little is known about the influence of vineyard and farming practices on AMF communities.

Methods: We examined the relative effect of wine and agricultural practices (organic, conversion, and conventional) on AMF abundance and diversity across 75 vineyards distributed over 14 wine in 6 winegrowing regions in France.

Optimized assay and storage conditions for enzyme activity profiling of ectomycorrhizae.

The aim of a joint effort by different research teams was to provide an improved procedure for enzyme activity profiling of field-sampled ectomycorrhizae, including recommendations on the best conditions and maximum duration for storage of ectomycorrhizal samples. A more simplified and efficient protocol compared to formerly published procedures was achieved by using manufactured 96-filter plates in combination with a vacuum manifold and by optimizing incubation times. Major improvements were achieved by performing the series of eight enzyme assays with a single series of root samples instead of two series, reducing the time needed for sample preparation, minimizing error-prone steps such as pipetting and morphotyping, and facilitating subsequent DNA analyses due to the reduced sequencing effort.