Impact of land use, pesticide application and agricultural management practices on the phosphorus foraging capacity of mycorrhizal fungi in 217 european agricultural soils

More than 80% of vascular plants form symbiotic associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Several studies have shown the potential of AMF to provide plants with phosphorus (P) via their hyphal network. Most of these studies have been performed in the greenhouse under controlled conditions using standardized soil mixtures. However, few studies have investigated hyphal P transfer in natural soils, severely limiting our understanding of the main drivers of P transfer by AMF in real agricultural soils. As a consequence, the potential of using AMF as a tool to increase crop yield remains a mystery. Using agricultural soils from a large field observation study in Europe, we aimed at a…