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Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are being used as a new generation of biofertilizers to increase plant growth by improving plant nutrition and bio-protection. However, because of the obligatory nature of the plant host, large-scale multiplication of AM propagules is challenging, which limits its applicability. This study evaluates the ability of Burkholderia arboris to increase AM production in soybean mill waste and vermicompost amended by soil-sand mixture planted with sorghum as a host plant. The experiment was conducted in a nursery using a completely randomized design with four inoculation treatments (B. arboris, AM fungi, B. arboris + AM fungi, and control) under sterilized and unsterilized conditions. AM production was investigated microscopically (spore density and root colonization), and biochemically (AM-specific lipid biomarker, 16:1ω5cis derived from neutral lipid fatty acid (NLFA), and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) fractions from both soil and roots). Integrating B. arboris with AM fungi in organically amended pots was found to increase AM fungal production by 62.16 spores g -1 soil and root colonization by 80.85%. Biochemical parameters also increased with B. arboris inoculation: 5.49 nmol PLFA g -1 soil and 692.68 nmol PLFA g -1 root and 36.72 nmol NLFA g -1 soil and 3147.57 nmol NLFA g -1 root. Co-inoculation also increased glomalin-related soil protein and root biomass. Principal component analysis (PCA) further supported the higher contribution of B. arboris to AM fungi production under unsterilized conditions. In conclusion, inoculation of AM plant host seeds with B. arboris prior to sowing into organic potting mix could be a promising and cost-effective approach for increasing AM inoculum density for commercial production. Furthermore, efforts need to be made for up-scaling the AM production with different plant hosts and soil-substrate types., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This study considered soybean processing mill waste (hulls) as an organic substrate for mass multiplication of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on sorghum and amaranthus as hosts. In the first experiment, from seven soybean processing mill wastes, three wastes were evaluated for their ability to multiply AM fungi on the two host plants. Among these wastes, hulls were found to be promising for the multiplication of AM fungi and were further examined in a second experiment in combination with vermicompost (VC), a mix of hulls plus vermicompost (SH + VC) amended with soil: sand mix (3:1 v/v) and a soil-sand mix used as a control (SS) in polybags containing the previous two host species. We found that SH blended with VC significantly improved AM fungus production in sorghum polybags assessed through microscopic (spore density in soil, colonization in roots) and biochemical parameters (AM signature lipids in soil: 16:1ω5cis neutral lipid fatty acid (NLFA); phospholipids fatty acid (PLFA) g -1 soil; 16:1ω5cis ester lipid fatty acid (ELFA) g -1 both in soil and roots; and glomalin content in soil. SH + VC contained significantly greater AM fungus populations than the other substrate combinations examined. Principal component analysis (PCA) also identified sorghum as a potential host supporting AM fungus populations particularly when grown under SH + VC conditions. Hence, the combination of soybean hulls and vermicompost was found to be a promising substrate for the mass production of AM fungi using sorghum as a host. These findings have important implications for developing AM fungus inoculum production strategies at the commercial scale.

Drought is a critical factor limiting the productivity of legumes worldwide. Legumes can enter into a unique tripartite symbiotic relationship with root-nodulating bacteria of genera Rhizobium , Bradyrhizobium , or Sinorhizobium and colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Rhizobial symbiosis provides nitrogen necessary for growth. AMF symbiosis enhances uptake of diffusion-limited nutrients such as P, Zn, Cu, etc., and also water from the soil via plant-associated fungal hyphae. Rhizobial and AMF symbioses can act synergistically in promoting plant growth and fitness, resulting in overall yield benefits under drought stress. One of the approaches that rhizobia use to survive under stress is the accumulation of compatible solutes, or osmolytes, such as trehalose. Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide and an osmolyte reported to accumulate in a range of organisms. High accumulation of trehalose in bacteroids during nodulation protects cells and proteins from osmotic shock, desiccation, and heat under drought stress. Manipulation of trehalose cell concentrations has been directly correlated with stress response in plants and other organisms, including AMF. However, the role of this compound in the tripartite symbiotic relationship is not fully explored. This review describes the biological importance and the role of trehalose in the tripartite symbiosis between plants, rhizobia, and AMF. In particular, we review the physiological functions and the molecular investigations of trehalose carried out using omics-based approaches. This review will pave the way for future studies investigating possible metabolic engineering of this biomolecule for enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in plants., (Copyright © 2020 Sharma, Grover, Chourasiya, Bharti, Agnihotri, Maheshwari, Pareek, Buyer, Sharma, Schütz, Mathimaran, Singla-Pareek, Grossman and Bagyaraj.)

There is worldwide concern over the increase use of nanoparticles (NPs) and their ecotoxicological effect. It is not known if the annual production of tons of industrial nanoparticles (NPs) has the potential to impact terrestrial microbial communities, which are so necessary for ecosystem functioning. Here, we have examined the consequences of adding the NPs particularly the metal oxide (CuO, ZnO) on CH4 oxidation activity in vertisol and the abundance of heterotrophs, methane oxidizers, and ammonium oxidizers. Soil samples collected from the agricultural field located at Madhya Pradesh, India, were incubated with either CuO and ZnO NPs or ionic heavy metals (CuCl2, ZnCl2) separately at 0, 10, and 20 μg g(-1) soil. CH4 oxidation activity in the soil samples was estimated at 60 and 100 % moisture holding capacity (MHC) in order to link soil moisture regime with impact of NPs. NPs amended to soil were highly toxic for the microbial-mediated CH4 oxidation, compared with the ionic form. The trend of inhibition was Zn 20 > Zn 10 > Cu 20 > Cu 10. NPs delayed the lag phase of CH4 oxidation to a maximum of 4-fold and also decreased the apparent rate constant k up to 50 % over control. ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis (α = 0.01) revealed significant impact of NPs on the CH4 oxidation activity and microbial abundance (p < 0.0001, and high F statistics). Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that PC1 (metal concentration) rendered 76.06 % of the total variance, while 18.17 % of variance accounted by second component (MHC). Biplot indicated negative impact of NPs on CH4 oxidation and microbial abundance. Our result also confirmed that higher soil moisture regime alleviates toxicity of NPs and opens new avenues of research to manage ecotoxicity and environmental hazard of NPs.