Journal of Agronomy and Field Innovations

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are important in improving drought resistance and nutrient uptake by legumes, but the functional diversity of the AMF community in drought-challenged chickpea has not yet been adequately studied. The objective of this work was to analyze AMF taxa associated with chickpea plants under different humidity regimes and assess their role in adaptation to drought and the productivity of plants. The experiments were carried out in the field in two growing seasons at a semi-arid research station according to the split-plot design scheme, which included the growing of two chickpea cultivars (‘JG 11’ and ‘ICCV 10’) under three conditions of irrigation—well watered (WW), moderate deficit (MD), and severe deficit (SD). The analysis of root colonization with AMF as well as the assessment of the community structure and functional traits (the presence of phosphatase, production of glomalin, and development of mycelial networks) were conducted using morphological and biochemical approaches. The response of the plants was assessed in terms of nutrient (N, P, K) uptake, water use efficiency (WUE), photosynthesis intensity, and biomass. The results indicated that the functional diversity of AMF decreased under extreme water stress, with the transition of the AMF community from copiotrophic-dominated to oligotrophic-dominated communities. The functional diversity indices showed that under optimal water conditions 14-16 AMF taxa per root system were identified whereas under extreme water stress conditions only 8-10 tax were available. Nevertheless, AMF species towards drought conditions showed improved phosphatase and glomalin production which helped the plants to uptake water and nutrients. Chickpea cultivar ‘JG 11’ showed high AMF colonization 45-52% active and functional enzyme activity in comparison with ‘ICCV 10’ 38-46%. The findings presented in this paper illustrates the ecological importance of AMF functional diversity for sustainable chickpea production in limited water conditions and suggests directions of work on the development of microbial inoculant consortia based of functional redundancy for climate-resistant agriculture.