Roles of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on growth and nutrient acquisition of peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) seedlings.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can form mutualistic symbioses with the roots of 80% of plants, which increase soil water and nutrient uptake for the host plants. However, little information is known on potential roles of differe nt AMF for growth and nutrient acquisition of peach. In a potted experiment, we determined the growth performance, nutrient concentrations and mycorrhizal nutrient efficiency of the peach ( Prunus persicaL. Batsch) seedlings inoculated with Glomus mosseae,G.versiforme, andParaglomus occultum, respectively. After 100 days of mycorrhizal inoculations, mycorrhizal colonization of one -year-old seedlings ranged from 23.4% to 54.9%. Generally, the formed mycorrhizal symbiosis significantly improved plant growt h performance, such as plant height, stem diameter, shoot, root or total dry weight. Comparedwiththe non-AMF seedlings, a range of 9.2 �28.5% K of leaves, 86.0 �120.9% K of roots, 118.3 �417.3% Ca of leaves, 31.9 �55.7% Mg of leaves, 76.6 �140.4% Mg of roots,101.3 �169.6% Fe of leaves, 37.6 66.5% Fe of roots, 178.3 �321.7% Cu of roots, 33.3 �91.7% Mn of roots, 50.0 �58.3% Zn of leaves, and 200.0 �450.0% Zn of roots were respectively higher in the mycorrhizalseedlings.The mycorrhizal benefit role on nutrient upta ke generally was the best in the G.mosseaetreatment.It suggests that arbuscular mycorrhizas could improve growth performance and part nutrient acquisition of peach, which were absolutely dependent on AMF species.