| Abstract: | Summary Arbuscular mycorrhizae were inoculated into phosphorus-deficient soil fertilized with either organic or chemical fertilizer with cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) as the first crop and lettuce (Lactu-ca sativa L.) as the second crop but without additional fertilization and AM inoculation. AM increased dry matter and fruit yield of cucumber significantly in the unfertilized, organic-fertilized and P-deficient plants compared with the fully chemical-fertilized plants. AM inoculation increased the available phosphorus in plant and soil by around 30% for all treatments except for those chemically-fertilized. The rate of AM infection did not differ significantly among the fertilization treatments, but the infection intensity was higher in unfertilized, organic-fertilized and phosphorus-deficient treatments than chemical-fertilized treatment. The residual effects of AM-inoculated to cucumber were evident for lettuce in all pre-treatments that were unfertilized and un-inoculated for the second cropping. Without P-fertilization, neither crop could grow optimally even when the soil was inoculated with AM, suggesting that AM could not serve as a substitute for phosphorus fertilizer. However, the other beneficial effects of AM on crop growth and yield could not be fulfilled with phosphorus fertilizer. |
