Early vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation in soil collected from an annual clover-based pasture in a Mediterranean environment: soil temperature and the timing of autumn rains

Abstract

The results of 2 experiments investigating the early stages of the formation of vesicular- arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizas in response to both soil temperature and the timing of autumn rains are reported for a Mediterranean environment in the south-west of Western Australia. In Expt 1, treatments including an early break, a late break, and a false break followed by a late break were applied to a mixed and sieved field soil collected dry in the summer and placed in pots in a glasshouse. In each break, pots were watered to field capacity and planted with subterranean clover (