Stimulation in the movement and uptake of phosphorus in response to magnetic P solution and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Ocimum basilicum

ABSTRACT

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to assess the effects of magnetic field, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and phosphorus (P) concentration in the nutrient solution (0, 5, 10, 20, or 40 mg L⁻¹) on the mobility and accumulation of P in soil and plant tissues of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.). The experiment was designed as a factorial combination and treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with four replicates. Magnetic field increased water-soluble P in the soil and P concentration in plant shoot by 30.0% and 13.0%, respectively, in comparison to the control. The application of magnetic field and inoculation of AMF at 10 mg P L⁻¹ increased the P translocation efficiency by 23.3% and 17.8%, respectively. Overall, our results demonstrated that the use of magnetic field and AMF could be an effective tool for enhancing of uptake and movement efficiency of P even at low concentrations.

KEYWORDS:

• basil
• diversispora versiformis
• mass flow
• mobility
• phosphorus translocation efficiency
• solubility

Acknowledgment

This work is part of Edris Shabani PhD thesis in horticultural sciences at the University of Tabriz, Iran. Edris Shabani wrote this paper during his six months stay at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Italy.