Seasonal and temperature effects on mycorrhizal activity and dependence of cool- and warm-season tallgrass prairie grasses

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 1596-1602 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Bentivenga ◽  
B. A. D. Hetrick
Keyword(s):  
Tallgrass Prairie ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Cool Temperature ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Fungal Activity ◽  
Prairie Grasses ◽  
Vesicular Arbuscular ◽  
Warm Season Grasses

Previous research on North American tallgrass prairie grasses has shown that warm-season grasses rely heavily on vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, while cool-season grasses are less dependent on the symbiosis (i.e., receive less benefit). This led to the hypothesis that cool-season grasses are less dependent on the symbiosis, because the growth of these plants occurs when mycorrhizal fungi are inactive. Field studies were performed to assess the effect of phenology of cool- and warm-season grasses on mycorrhizal fungal activity and fungal species composition. Mycorrhizal fungal activity in field samples was assessed using the vital stain nitro blue tetrazolium in addition to traditional staining techniques. Mycorrhizal activity was greater in cool-season grasses than in warm-season grasses early (April and May) and late (December) in the growing season, while mycorrhizal activity in roots of the warm-season grasses was greater (compared with cool-season grasses) in midseason (July and August). Active mycorrhizal colonization was relatively high in both groups of grasses late in the growing season, suggesting that mycorrhizal fungi may proliferate internally or may be parasitic at this time. Total Glomales sporulation was generally greater in the rhizosphere of cool-season grasses in June and in the rhizosphere of the warm-season grasses in October. A growth chamber experiment was conducted to examine the effect of temperature on mycorrhizal dependence of cool- and warm-season grasses. For both groups of grasses, mycorrhizal dependence was greatest at the temperature that favored growth of the host. The results suggest that mycorrhizal fungi are active in roots when cool-season grasses are growing and that cool-season grasses may receive benefit from the symbiosis under relatively cool temperature regimes. Key words: cool-season grasses, tallgrass prairie, vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizae, warm-season grasses.

Mycorrhizal dependence and growth habit of warm-season and cool-season tallgrass prairie plants

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 1376-1380 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Daniels Hetrick ◽  
D. Gerschefske Kitt ◽  
G. Thompson Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Tallgrass Prairie ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Root Systems ◽  
Mycorrhizal Symbiosis ◽  
Photosynthetic Pathway ◽  
Fibrous Root ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Warm Season Grasses

Warm-season (C4) and cool-season (C3) mycorrhizal grasses were 63–215 and 0.12–4.1 times larger in dry weight than non-inoculated controls, respectively. Nonmycorrhizal warm-season plants did not grow and frequently died, while cool-season plants grew moderately well in the absence of mycorrhizal symbiosis. Like warm-season grasses, tallgrass prairie forbs were highly dependent on mycorrhizal symbiosis, even though they are not known to employ the C4 photosynthetic pathway. Thus, phenology may be more critical than photosynthetic pathway in determining mycorrhizal dependence. Warm-season grasses and forbs had coarser, less frequently branched root systems than cool-season grasses, supporting the hypothesis that mycorrhizal dependence is related to root morphology. Cool-season grasses may have developed more fibrous root systems because mycorrhizal nutrient uptake was not effective in the colder temperate environment in which they evolved. In contrast, warm-season plants and dependence on mycorrhizal fungi may have coevolved, because both symbionts are of tropical origin.

Relationship between mycorrhizal activity, burning, and plant productivity in tallgrass prairie

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 2597-2602 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Bentivenga ◽  
B. A. D. Hetrick
Keyword(s):  
Plant Growth ◽  
Tallgrass Prairie ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Mycorrhizal Colonization ◽  
Prairie Grasses ◽  
Vesicular Arbuscular ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

The impact of benomyl fungicide and spring burning on mycorrhizal activity and plant growth was assessed in tallgrass prairie in Kansas. We report for the first time that the productivity of mycotrophic plants can be reduced by inhibition of indigenous vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi under field conditions. A vital stain, nitro blue tetrazolium, used to assess active mycorrhizal colonization, proved to be a more sensitive measure of treatment effects than the cell wall stain, trypan blue. Burning stimulated both plant growth and active mycorrhizal colonization. However, by 32 days after burning no differences in colonization were detected. Our observations support the hypothesis that mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in the growth of warm-season tallgrass prairie grasses and may contribute to enhanced plant growth of warm-season tallgrass prairie grasses and may contribute to enchanced plant growth following spring burning. Key words: burning, benomyl fungicide, phosphorus, tallgrass prairie, VA mycorrhizae, warm-season grasses.

scholarly journals Temporal Weed Interference with Young Pecan Trees

HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1723-1725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Smith ◽  
Becky S. Cheary ◽  
Becky L. Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Warm Season ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Carya Illinoinensis ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Vegetation Control ◽  
Weed Interference ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Herbaceous Dicots ◽  
Warm Season Grasses

Vegetation surrounding pecan (Carya illinoinensis Wangenh. C. Koch) trees in a 4.3 × 6 m area was either controlled with a nonresidual herbicide for the entire growing season, not controlled, or controlled at certain times during the growing season. After three growing seasons, trunk diameters were suppressed 54% when vegetation was not controlled, 47% when not controlled until 1 Aug., and 37% if not controlled after 1 June compared to entire growing season vegetation control. Trunk diameters were not significantly different from entire season vegetation control when vegetation was controlled from 1 June through fall frost or vegetation controlled from April until 1 Aug. Vegetation in the plots was typically dominated by cool season herbaceous dicots in May and June, and warm-season grasses during August and September.

Herbicides for Postemergence Control of Annual Grass Weeds in Seedling Forage Grasses

Weed Science ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Peters ◽  
Russell S. Moomaw ◽  
Alex R. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Warm Season ◽  
Big Bluestem ◽  
Forage Grasses ◽  
Annual Grass ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Intermediate Wheatgrass ◽  
Green Foxtail ◽  
Annual Grasses ◽  
Large Crabgrass ◽  
Warm Season Grasses

The control of three summer annual grass weeds with herbicides during establishment of forage grasses was studied near Concord and Mead, NE, in 1984, 1985, and 1986. Three cool-season forage grasses, intermediate wheatgrass, tall fescue, and smooth bromegrass, and two warm-season grasses, big bluestem and switchgrass, were included. The control of three major summer annual grasses, green foxtail, barnyardgrass, and large crabgrass, was excellent with fenoxaprop at 0.22 kg ai/ha. Slight to moderate injury to cool-season forage grasses and severe injury to warm-season grasses were evident. Sethoxydim at 0.22 kg ai/ha and haloxyfop at 0.11 kg ai/ha controlled green foxtail and large crabgrass, but not barnyardgrass. Sulfometuron-treated big bluestem and switchgrass plots had the best forage stand frequencies and yields and, at the rate used, sulfometuron satisfactorily controlled green foxtail but only marginally controlled barnyardgrass and large crabgrass.

Burning and Grazing to Promote Persistence of Warm-Season Grasses Sown into a Cool-Season Pasture

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Bouressa ◽  
J. E. Doll ◽  
R. L. Cates ◽  
R. D. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Warm Season ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Warm Season Grasses

Vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhiza influence growth but not mineral concentrations in seedlings of eight sweetgum families

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Schultz ◽  
P. P. Kormanik ◽  
W. C. Bryan ◽  
G. H. Brister
Keyword(s):  
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza ◽  
Nutrient Uptake ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Initial Growth ◽  
Soil Mixture ◽  
Vesicular Arbuscular ◽  
Va Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Mineral Concentrations

Seedlings of eight half-sib sweetgum (Liquidambarstyraciflua L.) families were grown for 6 months in a fumigated soil mixture, with or without inoculum from a mixture of Glomusmosseae and Glomusetunicatus fungi, at levels of 140, 280, 560, and 1120 kg/ha of 10–10–10 fertilizer. All seedlings received three additions of 187 kg/ha of N during the growing season. Inoculated seedlings had significantly greater biomass, height, and stem diameters at each fertilizer level than nonmycorrhizal control seedlings. Significant differences in growth occurred between families in mycorrhizal plants. However, fertilizer did not significantly affect growth or nutrient uptake of the seedlings. Inoculation with VA mycorrhizal fungi did not increase N, P, K, or Mg concentrations in the leaves, stems, or roots. Leaves of VA mycorrhizal seedlings had higher concentrations of calcium but stems and roots had lower concentrations of this element than the nonmycorrhizal seedlings. Seedlings with endomycorrhizae contained higher absolute quantities of each nutrient simply because of their greater biomass. The results suggest that the role of VA mycorrhizal fungi in the initial growth of sweetgum seedlings may be the result of physiological stimuli other than increased nutrient uptake.

scholarly journals The Urban Double-Crop: Can Fall Vegetables and a Warm-Season Lawn Co-Exist?

Horticulturae ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 505
Author(s):  
Ellen M. Bauske ◽  
S. Dorn ◽  
F. C. Waltz ◽  
L. Garcia Chance
Keyword(s):  
Brassica Oleracea ◽  
Lactuca Sativa ◽  
Cynodon Dactylon ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Swiss Chard ◽  
Satisfactory Recovery ◽  
The Ideal

A gardening methodology using double-cropped cool-season vegetables and warm-season turfgrass, thereby capitalizing on the ideal growing season for each, was developed in field trials and tested in volunteers’ landscapes. Broccoli (Brassica oleracea’), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. Cicla) were planted into an established hybrid bermudagrass lawn (Cynodon dactylon (L) Pers. × C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy ‘Tifsport’) in September. The vegetables were planted into tilled strips, 5 cm × 10 cm holes and 10 cm × 10 cm holes in the turf. All treatments produced harvestable yield, though the yield of vegetables planted in the tilled treatments and larger holes was greater than in smaller holes. Efforts to reduce turfgrass competition with vegetables by the application of glyphosate or the use of the Veggie Lawn Pod (an easily installed plastic cover on the lawn) did not increase yield. Tilled treatments left depressions that discouraged spring turfgrass recovery. The double-crop was tested by seven volunteers on their lawns. Though lawn-planted vegetables did not produce as much yield as those planted in the volunteers’ gardens, the volunteers were enthusiastic about this methodology. The volunteers reported that lawn vegetables were more difficult to plant but not more difficult to maintain, and they were easier to harvest than vegetables in their gardens. All volunteers reported satisfactory recovery of their lawns in the spring.

Vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with native tall grass prairie and cultivated winter wheat

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (8) ◽  
pp. 2140-2146 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Daniels Hetrick ◽  
J. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Winter Wheat ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Root Colonization ◽  
Fungal Spores ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Tall Grass ◽  
Wheat Field ◽  
Vesicular Arbuscular

More vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungal species and significantly more fungal spores were recovered from undisturbed prairie soils than four winter wheat field soils in Kansas through the 1980–1981 growing season. Two previously undescribed sporocarpic species of Endogonaceae were found in prairie samples but have not been successfully established in pot culture, leaving the genus to which they belong unclear. Though variable, 11–50% VAM root colonization was evident in all prairie grass roots sampled throughout the year. In contrast, no identifiable VAM root colonization was evident in wheat until May after flowering when 27% root colonization was observed. During the 1981–1982 growing season, roots of two other wheat fields were sampled with similar results. No colonization occurred until May when 8% root colonization was evident. The possible influence of such low levels of root colonization occurring quite late in the growing season of winter wheat is discussed.

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