Potasium nutrition in rice under salt stress: role of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis?

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) establish a symbiotic association with the roots of 80% of terrestrial plants and form complex tree-shaped feeding structures called arbuscules in colonized root cells. This association with AMF not only provides more efficient uptake of nutrients for the plant, but also confers protection against pathogens and increased tolerance to environmental stress such as salt stress [1]. Rice (Oryza sativa), the most salt-sensitive crop species amongst cereals, has a productivity strongly reduced around the world due to soil salinity/salinization and increased sea level (in deltas). High Na+ concentrations (salt stress conditions) impairs K+ uptake and inhibits man…