Influence of nitrogen and sulfur fertilizers and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on yield and pungency of spring onion

A pot experiment was conducted out to investigate the yield and pungency of spring onion (Allium fistulosum L.) as affected by inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and addition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) fertilizers. Plants were inoculated with either Glomus mosseae or Glomus intraradices or grown as uninoculated controls. Two levels of N and S were applied to the soil in factorial combinations of 50 and 250 mg N kg(-1) soil and 0 and 60 mg S kg(-1) soil. Plants were grown in a greenhouse for 25 weeks and then harvested. Mycorrhizal colonization resulted in increased shoot dry weight, shoot-to-root ratio, shoot length, sheath diameter, and phosphorus (P) concentrations. Shoot dry-matter yield was significantly affected by added N, but not by S. Shoot dry weight increased with increasing N supply (except for non-mycorrhizal controls without additional S fertilizer). Shoot total S concentration (TSC), enzyme-produced pyruvate (EPY), and organic sulfur concentration (OSC) in plants inoculated with Glomus mosseae were significantly lower than those of non-mycorrhizal controls, while these parameters in plants inoculated with Glomus intraradices were comparable to or higher than in the controls. Neither N nor S supply affected shoot EPY or OSC, whereas shoot TSC (except in plants inoculated with Glomus mosseae) and SO42- concentrations were usually significantly increased by S supply. In soil of high S and low P availability, mycorrhizal colonization had a profound influence on both the yield and the pungency of spring onion.