By analysing this ancient and common relationship we are gaining insights that could be used to breed crops with the best possible root architectural and symbiotic properties
- Uta Paszkowski
New research has found that the interaction of roots with a common soil fungus changes the genetic expression of rice crops – triggering additional root growth that enables the plant to absorb more nutrients.
In addition to causing extra root growth, the mycorrhizal fungus also enmeshes itself within crop roots at a cellular level – blooming within individual plant cells. The fungus grows thin tendrils called hyphae that extend into surrounding soil and pump nutrients, phosphate in particular, straight into the heart of plant cells.
Plants 'colonised' by the fungi get between 70 to 100% of their phosphate directly from these fungus tendrils, an enormous mineral boost which may eventually mitigate the need for farmers to saturate crop fields with phosphate fertiliser to ensure maximum yield.
The hope is that mycorrhizal fungi could one day act as a 'bio-fertiliser' that ultimately replaces the need to mine phosphate from the ground for industrial fertiliser. Finding a replacement for mined phosphate is a critical problem as not only is the resultant fertiliser a pollutant – causing algal growth which chokes water supplies – but the big phosphate mines are now depleted to the point where they are expected to run out in the next 30 to 50 years. Many experts are predicting a 'phosphate crisis'.
"The big question we are trying to answer is whether and how we can make use of the biofertiliser capacity of mycorrhizal symbiosis in modern and more high input agricultural settings, meaning more intensive farming methods. We need alternatives to phosphate fertiliser if we are to feed growing populations," said Dr Uta Paszkowski from the University of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences, who co-authored the research published in the journal PNAS.
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Image :Dry rice field at dusk
Credit: Ahmad Nizam Awang
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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