Breeding Practice Improves the Mycorrhizal Responsiveness of Cotton (Gossypium spp. L.)

Letian Wang; Xihe Wang; Baidengsha Maimaitiaili; Arjun Kafle; Khuram Shehzad Khan; Gu Feng

doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.780454

Breeding Practice Improves the Mycorrhizal Responsiveness of Cotton (Gossypium spp. L.)

Front Plant Sci. 2021 Dec 10:12:780454. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.780454. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Letian Wang¹, Xihe Wang², Baidengsha Maimaitiaili³, Arjun Kafle⁴, Khuram Shehzad Khan¹, Gu Feng¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
² Institute of Soil and Fertilizer and Agricultural Sparing Water, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Science, Urumqi, China.
³ Institute of Nuclear Technology and Biotechnology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi, China.
⁴ Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States.

Abstract

Maximizing the function of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi by choosing specific crop genotypes offers one of the few untapped opportunities to improve the sustainability of agriculture. In this study, the differences in mycorrhizal responsiveness (MR) in plant growth and shoot phosphorus (P) content among cotton (Gossypium spp. L.) genotypes from different release dates were compared and then the relationships between MR and P uptake-related traits were determined. The experimental design in a greenhouse included 24 genotypes released from 1950 to present in Xinjiang Province, inoculation with or without AM fungi, and P levels (15 and 150 mg P kg^-1 added as KH₂PO₄). Results showed that the modern cotton genotypes exhibited a higher degree of mycorrhizal colonization, the hyphal length density (HLD), and mycorrhizae-induced changes in shoot growth than the old genotypes when inoculated with indigenous AM fungi at both the P levels. Moreover, MR was highly correlated with the HLD at low P levels and the HLD may provide useful insights for future cotton breeding aimed at delivering crop genotypes that can benefit more from AM fungi.

Keywords: breeding; cotton cultivars; indigenous community; mycorrhizal responsiveness; phosphorus uptake.