Authors: Mónica Calvo Polanco Janusz J Zwiazek Melanie D Jones Michael D MacKinnon
Publish Date: 2008/07/11
Volume: 22, Issue: 6, Pages: 825-834
Abstract
In earlier studies we established that mycorrhizal associations protect plants against salt stress However elevated boron levels are often present in saline soils and little is known about the effects of boron on salt resistance of mycorrhizal plants In the present study we inoculated jack pine Pinus banksiana seedlings with Hebeloma sp Suillus tomentosus and Wilcoxina mikolae var mikolae to study the effects of mycorrhizal associations on seedling responses to boron and salt Seedlings were grown in the greenhouse and subjected to 60 mM NaCl 2 mM H3BO3 or 60 mM NaCl + 2 mM H3BO3 treatments for 4 weeks Dry weights shootroot ratios and chlorophyll concentrations were higher in inoculated seedlings for all treatments compared with the noninoculated plants When applied with NaCl B aggravated needle necrosis while reducing Cl concentrations in shoots of noninoculated plants Plants treated with 2 mM H3BO3 + 60 mM NaCl had similar concentrations of Na and B to those that were treated separately with 60 mM NaCl and 2 mM H3BO3 Plants inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi had lower shoot Na concentrations compared with noninoculated seedlings but showed relatively little impact from elevated B concentrations
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