Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza and plant growth response to soil amendment with composted grape pomace or its water extract

Composted materials with high humic and microbial content, and their water extracts, are increasingly used in the nursery industry, as potting mix components or as liquid amendments for the purposes of enhancing plant growth. Common speculation is that such materials either contain beneficial microbes or stimulate those in or added to the medium, such as vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi, known to have growth-stimulating effects on plants. Experiments were conducted to determine if one such compost enhanced plant growth by stimulating VAM fungi or other growth-enhancing microbes, by simply providing limiting nutrients [phosphorus (P)], or a combination of the two. Highly mycorrhiza-responsive onion (Allium cepa) 'White Lisbon' was used to evaluate the interactions of composted grape pomace (CGP), the VAM fungus Glomus intraradices, and preplant soil heat treatment on onion growth under P-limiting conditions. CGP and its water extract stimulated onion growth under P-limiting conditions in the absence of VAM; the extract was more effective than the granular CGP. Growth was enhanced further by addition of G. intraradices, and the extract enhanced its colonization of routs. Heat pretreatment of the soil inconsistently affected growth-enhancement by CGP or its extract. Thus, inoculating plant roots with mycorrhizal fungi in combination with this composted organic amendment or its extract was beneficial. The effect could have been due to the CGP providing a source of P to overcome the P-limiting conditions, and to the mycorrhizal fungus enhancing P uptake by its extraradical hyphae and thereby increasing nutrient-use efficiency.