PHOSPHATE UPTAKE ZONES OF MYCORRHIZAL AND NON‐MYCORRHIZAL ONIONS

SUMMARY Mycorrhizal and non‐mycorrhizal onion seedlings were grown in individual soil chambers in which roots were confined to one side of a barrier. External hyphae of Glomus fasciculatus arising from mycorrhizal roots grew into an adjacent volume of soil. 32 P was injected into soil at 1‐cm intervals up to a distance of 8 cm from the confined roots. Relatively high levels of radioactivity were subsequently detected in root segments of mycorrhizal plants at all distances from tracer injection. High levels of radioactivity were detected also in leaf segments of mycorrhizal plants. Radioactivity of root or leaf segments of non‐mycorrhizal plants did not exceed background level at any distance from tracer injection. 32 P did not move more than 7.5 mm from the point of injection as indicated by gross autoradiography. Absorption of phosphate and its trans‐location to the host by hyphae of G. fasciculatus can extend the phosphate uptake zone of mycorrhizal onions to at least 7 cm from the root surface.