Accumulation in nutrient acquisition strategies of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots in poor and heterogeneous soils of karst shrub ecosystems

BACKGROUND: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and roots play important roles in plant nutrient acquisition, especially in nutrient poor and heterogeneous soils. However, whether an accumulation strategy of AM fungi and root exists in such soils of karst shrubland ecosystems remains unclear. Root traits related to nutrient acquisition (root biomass, AM colonisation, root acid phosphatase activity and N(2) fixation) were measured in two N(2)-fixing plants (i.e. Albizia odoratissima (Linn. f.) Benth. and Cajanus cajan (Linn.) Millsp.) that were grown in heterogeneous or homogeneous nutrient (ammonium) soil with and without AM fungi inoculation. RESULTS: Both of these plants had higher AM colonisation, root biomass and relative growth rate (RGR), but lower N(2) fixation and root acid phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere in the heterogeneous soil environment, than that in the homogeneous soil environment. Plants grown in the AM fungi-inoculated heterogeneous soil environment had increased root biomass and root acid phosphatase activity compared with those grown in soil without inoculation. AM colonisation was negatively correlated with the N(2) fixation rate of A. odoratissima, while it was not significantly correlated with the root phosphatase activity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that enhanced AM symbiosis and root biomass increased the absorptive surfaces for nutrient acquisition, highlighting the accumulation strategies of AM and root traits for plant nutrient acquisition in nutrient poor and heterogeneous soils of the karst shrubland ecosystem. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-022-03514-y.