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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiological Chemistry and Geomicrobiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1507798
This article is part of the Research Topic Plant Mineral Microbe Interactions View all 6 articles

Mycorrhizal extraradical mycelium can reduce cadmium uptake by maize and cadmium leaching from contaminated soil: Based on an ingrowth core experiment

Provisionally accepted
Yijie Yang Yijie Yang 1Yang Li Yang Li 1*Xiaoyi Li Xiaoyi Li 1*Jie Yan Jie Yan 1*Longhua Wu Longhua Wu 2Zhenwu Tang Zhenwu Tang 3*Yongmei He Yongmei He 1*Fangdong Zhan Fangdong Zhan 1*
  • 1 College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
  • 2 Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are commonly found in heavy metal-contaminated environments and form extraradical mycelium (ERM), but knowledge of their ecological functions is limited. In the present study, a soil column was filled with sterilized cadmium (Cd)-contaminated soil and contained an in-growth core for AMF-inoculated maize seedling growth. The in-growth core was static to maintain or rotated to disrupt ERM growth. Compared with the static treatment, the rotation treatment caused significant decreases in the content of glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), the photosynthetic physiology of leaves, and maize growth, while increasing the Cd content in shoots and roots by 64% and 82%, respectively; additionally, the rotation treatment resulted in increases in the Cd concentration of the soil solution inside and outside the growth core by 30-38% and 17%-52%, respectively, and Cd leaching loss by 29%-39%. Moreover, the rotation treatment significantly altered the Cd forms in the soil solution and leachate, increasing the proportion of free Cd 2+ by 0.8%-2.1% and decreasing the proportions of CdSO4(aq) and CdOH + by 6.1%-56.1% and 26.1%-48.7%, respectively. The structural equation model indicated that AMF directly and indirectly reduced maize Cd uptake and Cd leaching loss by decreasing Cd availability in the soil and soil solution through the GRSP secreted by ERM. Thus, AMF plays a crucial role in inhibiting Cd migration in soil through mycelial exudates.

    Keywords: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Extraradical mycelium, Ingrowth core, soil solution, Cadmium form, Leaching loss

    Received: 08 Oct 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yang, Li, Li, Yan, Wu, Tang, He and Zhan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yang Li, College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
    Xiaoyi Li, College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
    Jie Yan, College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
    Zhenwu Tang, College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China
    Yongmei He, College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
    Fangdong Zhan, College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China

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