The Water Relations of Weil-watered, Mycorrhizal, and Non-mycorrhizal Onion Plants1

Abstract

Abstract The water relations of mycorrhizal onions ( Allium cepa L.) were compared with those of non-mycorrhizal controls grown under low and high soil phosphorus conditions. Mycorrhizal plants had higher leaf water potentials, higher transpiration rates, higher hydraulic conductivities and lower leaf resistances than did non-mycorrhizal plants grown in low soil phosphorus conditions. When controls were grown under high soil phosphorus conditions, all 4 parameters were not different from those of mycorrhizal plants. The magnitude of the effect of mycorrhizal fungi on the water relations of the host may, in part, be a function of phosphorus nutrition. The differences in leaf water potentials, transpiration rates and leaf resistances are considered to be the result of the differences found in hydraulic conductivities.