Comparative study of substrate-based and commercial formulations of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Romaine lettuce subjected to salt stress

Abstract

To compare the effect of substrate-based and commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in salt stress tolerance of Romaine lettuce a bifactorial analysis was carried out. Under non-saline conditions, only plants inoculated with formulation 1 stimulated shoot weight but not related with greater root AMF colonization. Phosphorus and potassium concentrations in leaves were improved by mycorrhizal association. Irrigation with 100 mM sodium chloride (NaCl) did not affect leaf relative water content and we observed no osmotic adjustment in leaves from non-mycorrhizal plants. However, root dry biomass and its starch content decreased, while leaf starch and root soluble sugar concentrations were enhanced. Lettuce inoculated with formulation 2 and substrate-based Glomus intraradices showed the highest root colonization percentages. Nevertheless, none of the mycorrhizal treatments induced a significant improvement on growth of lettuce subjected to salt stress. Romaine lettuce seems to be a moderately tolerant variety to salinity and therefore, the contribution of AMF was minimized.