Effects of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and soil substrate on invasive plant Alternanthera philoxeroides

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in soil form a symbiotic relationship with plants, using their hyphae to help plants growth. And Alternanthera philoxeroides pose a serious threat to China's agriculture, forestry, and urban ecosystems. There is lack of studies on how AM fungi affect invasive plants in different environment. Therefore, A. philoxeroides and AM fungi were used study to study the different growth substrate and effects of AM fungi on invasive plants. In this study, the result showed that mycorrhizal dependency ranged 6.09% and 37.00%. Both AM fungi type and growth substrate significantly altered photosynthetic pigment (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid content of invasive A. philoxeroides ). Similarly, the interaction between AM fungi and the type of growth substrate affected the content of photosynthetic pigment. The type of growth substrate, and the interaction between growth substrate type and AM fungi affected the height of A. philoxeroides . This study suggested that soil substrate, AM fungi type, and their interactions affect their invasion and spread. AM fungi lead to high aboveground biomass of A. philoxeroides promoting invasion. Therefore, in the future, invasive plants A. philoxeroides should be divided into corresponding control zones based on the gradient of different soil nutrients, especially in critical areas as key monitoring and prevention zones.