A critical review on the nutrition role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Even though many factors influence the accession of mineral nutrients required for plantgrowth, arbuscular mycorrhizal-roots can greatly enhance the accession of mineral nutrients in hostplants. The nutrients enhanced most by AM are those that are of low mobility or sparingly soluble. Withother factors being equal in specific environments, AM may be the difference between whether plants willsurvive and/or have the ability to obtain the required mineral nutrients for sustainability. Although themost commonly reported mineral nutrient enhanced in host plants with AM-roots is P, accession of manyother mineral nutrients (e.g., Zn, Cu, N, S, Ca, Mg, K) may be enhanced in plants by AM. Severalreviews about accession of mineral nutrients in AM plants have been published fairly recently. Some ofthe concepts mentioned with P accession may be applicable to the other mineral nutrients. This reviewgives an overview on the role of mycorrhizae in nutrition.