Rapid assessment of acid phosphatase activity in the mycorrhizosphere and in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal hyphae

A pot experiment has been carried out under controlled conditions to study the possibility of applying the technique ofin vivo staining for acid phosphatase activity on the roots of mycorrhizal plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphae. The pots had 5 compartments. The central root compartment was separated from the two adjacent hyphal compartments using nylon nets of 30 μm mesh, and the two hyphal compartments were separated from the two outermost compartments with 0.45 μm membranes. Red clover was grown in the root compartment and was either inoculated with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF)Glomus mosseae or unlnoculated. Sodium phytate was applied to all compartments. The results show that AMF can increase acid phosphatase activity of clover roots. The plant roots acquired deep red “mycorrhizal prints”. The external hyphae also had obvious “hyphal prints” on the test papers, indicating the ability of mycorrhizal hyphae to release acid phosphatase.