Contribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to utilization of organic sources of phosphorus by red clover in a calcareous soil

A glasshouse pot experiment investigated the uptake by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi associated with red clover of three organic sources of P added to a sterilized calcareous soil of low P availability. Each pot was separated into a central compartment for plant growth and two outer compartments for external mycelium using 30-μm nylon mesh to restrict the roots but allow hyphal penetration. Plants in the central compartments were inoculated with the AM fungus Glomus versiforme and uninoculated controls were included. Plants were harvested on three occasions: 5, 7 and 10 weeks after sowing. Application of each of the three organic P sources (lecithin, RNA and sodium phytate) or inorganic P (KH₂PO₄) at 50 mg P kg^?1 to the outer compartments of mycorrhizal and uninoculated pots increased the yield, P concentration and total P uptake of red clover compared with pots to which no P was applied, with no differences among P sources in non-mycorrhizal plants but differences observed in mycorrhizal plants both 7 and 10 weeks after sowing suggesting differences in availability of the four P sources to AM mycelium. The contribution of external mycelium to plant uptake of applied P increased with time. The three organic P sources made smaller contributions to plant P nutrition than KH₂PO₄ at the first and second harvests. At the third harvest, the contribution from KH₂PO₄ was 23%, while those from lecithin, RNA and sodium phytate were 23, 17 and 31%, respectively. This suggests that with the mediation of AM fungi, soil organic P sources can make a contribution to host plant P nutrition comparable to that of soluble orthophosphate.