Roles of Soil Biotic and Abiotic Factors on Switchgrass's (Panicum Virgatum) Growth, Defense Against Herbivory and Cell Wall Chemistry
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University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2020 Aboveground-belowground interactions: roles of soil biotic and abiotic factors on switchgrass's (panicum virgatum) growth, defense against herbivory and cell wall chemistry. Binod Basyal University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, and the Plant Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Basyal, Binod, "Aboveground-belowground interactions: roles of soil biotic and abiotic factors on switchgrass's (panicum virgatum) growth, defense against herbivory and cell wall chemistry." (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3394. Retrieved from https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd/3394 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABOVEGROUND-BELOWGROUND INTERACTIONS: ROLES OF SOIL BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS ON SWITCHGRASS’S (PANICUM VIRGATUM) GROWTH, DEFENSE AGAINST HERBIVORY AND CELL WALL CHEMISTRY By Binod Basyal B.Sc. Agriculture, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 2013 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology Department of Biology University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May, 2020 ABOVEGROUND-BELOWGROUND INTERACTIONS: ROLES OF SOIL BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS ON SWITCHGRASS’S (PANICUM VIRGATUM) GROWTH, DEFENSE AGAINST HERBIVORY AND CELL WALL CHEMISTRY By Binod Basyal B.Sc. Agriculture, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 2013 A Dissertation Approved on April 7th, 2020 By the Following Dissertation Committee Sarah Emery (Dissertation Director) Stephen P. Yanoviak Mark Running Natalie Christian Karen Stahlheber ii I dedicate this dissertation to my father Mr. Lok Prasad Basyal and my mother Mrs. Hari Maya Basyal. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I thank Brandon Nguyen, Heather Griffith, Sarah Benton and Kaitlyn Goode for helping with soil nematode extraction, preparation of root and ERH slides and maintenance of growth chamber experiments. I thank Matthew Reid, Erin Kinnetz and Andrea Howes with assistance in the biocide field experiment set-up. I also thank Cliff Foster for free cell wall chemistry analysis from the biocide experiment and Katherine Gross for experimental design and implementation. I cannot thank Mark Hammond enough for maintaining the biocide treatments and harvesting switchgrass. Many thanks to Aaron Sexton, Kylea Garces and past and present lab members for their feedback on manuscripts and presentations. I am grateful to have my friends from Frankfort, KY. Thanks to my wife Sajani for being there for me despite being thousands of miles away. Finally, my sincere thanks go to my advisor Dr. Sarah Emery and my committee members for their guidelines, feedback and support. iv ABSTRACT ABOVEGROUND-BELOWGROUND INTERACTIONS: ROLES OF SOIL BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS ON SWITCHGRASS’S (PANICUM VIRGATUM) GROWTH, DEFENSE AGAINST HERBIVORY AND CELL WALL CHEMISTRY Binod Basyal April 07, 2020 Plants constantly interact with their biotic and abiotic soil environments. Most terrestrial plants form beneficial associations with soil microbes such as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, which are widely known for their ability to transfer soil phosphorus and nitrogen to the host plants. They help plants tolerate drought stress and improve plant defense against herbivores such as plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs). This dissertation investigates the role of AM fungi on switchgrass’s (Panicum virgatum) growth, cell wall chemistry, and defense against PPNs using a combination of growth chamber and field studies. Switchgrass is a native warm-season species which is gaining traction as candidate lignocellulosic biofuel crop. It forms a tight association with AM fungi, and PPNs like Pratylenchus penetrans can become a potential threat when the plant is grown in monocultures. My first study was a growth chamber experiment where I manipulated the absence and presence of an AM fungal species to examine its effects on switchgrass’s growth and defense against Pratylenchus penetrans under drought conditions. I found that AM fungi increased root biomass under drought conditions and v reduced the abundance of the PPN in plant roots by about 66%. I followed this study with a field experiment where I manipulated soil fungi and nematodes by applying biocides. I found that the application of biocides resulted in an altered monomeric composition of lignin in switchgrass. My final study was a growth chamber study where I looked at the effects of AM fungi on switchgrass along a drought intensity gradient. Overall, I found that AM fungi provided maximum benefit to the plants in extreme drought and the benefit declined with increasing moisture indicating that the functioning of AM fungi can span a mutualism-parasitism continuum. Mycorrhizal plants also had increased root biomass, cellulose, and hemicellulose regardless of drought treatment. These studies provide evidence that AM fungi can have wide ranging effects on switchgrass growth and physiology and these effects can sometimes be altered by the soil abiotic environments. Overall, my results suggest that plant-AM fungal symbiosis can become ever more important in the face of climate change. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………..iv ABSTRACT.…………………………………………………………………………........v LIST OF TABLES.……………………………………………………………………….ix LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………….x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………1 STUDY SYSTEM…………………………………………………………….......3 ORGANIZATION OF DISSERTATION………………………………………...4 CHAPTER II: ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI AND DROUGHT ALTER PLANT RESPONSES TO NEMATODE ROOT HERBIVORY………………………...6 SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………….6 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………...7 MATERIALS AND METHODS…………………………………..…………….12 RESULTS………………………………………………………………………..16 DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………17 CHAPTER III: DO SOIL BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS HAVE DIFFERENT EFFECTS ON ABOVEGROUND AND BELOWGROUND LIGNIN 1 COMPOSITION IN SWITCHGRASS?.........................................................................................................27 SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………...27 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….28 MATERIALS AND METHODS………………………………………………...31 RESULTS………………………………………………………………………..35 DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………36 CHAPTER IV: ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI BENEFIT SWITCHGRASS GROWTH ACROSS A SOIL MOISTURE GRADIENT……………………………….48 SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………...48 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….49 MATERIALS AND METHODS…………………………………..……………53 RESULTS………………………………………………………………………..56 DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………57 CHAPTER V: SUMMARY AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS……………………………71 vii SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………...71 FUTURE DIRECTIONS………………………………………………………...72 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………..75 APPENDIX I…………………………………………………………………………….91 CURRICULUM VITAE…………………………………………………………………93 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. ANOVA Table: Effects of switchgrass cultivar, AM fungi and drought on above-and belowground responses under PPN herbivory stress……………………………………22 2. GLM Table: Effects of biocides and fertilizer on lignin content and composition of switchgrass leaf tissues…………………………………………………………………..41 3. GLM Table: Effects of biocides and fertilizer on lignin content and composition of switchgrass stem tissues.…………………………………………………………………42 4. GLM Table: Effects of biocides and fertilizer on lignin content and composition of switchgrass root tissues…………………………………………………………………..43 5. GLM Table: Effects of AM fungi and drought on switchgrass aboveground measures………………………………………………………………………………….62 6. GLM Table: Effects of AM fungi and drought on switchgrass belowground measures………………………………………………………………………………….63 7. GLM Table: Effects of AM fungi and drought on switchgrass cell wall chemistry…64 ix LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Switchgrass growth in response to AM fungi and drought under overall belowground herbivory…………………………………………………………………………………24 2. (a) AM fungi effects on PPN root abundance (b) Relationship between PPN abundance and % AM fungal colonization…………………………………………………………..25 3. Root biomass of PPN-exposed switchgrass in response to AM fungi and drought…...26 4. Effects of biocides and N fertilizer on switchgrass leaf p-hydroxyphenyl unit………45 5. Stem lignin responses of switchgrass to biocides and N fertilizer……………………46 6. Root lignin responses of switchgrass to biocides and N fertilizer……………………47 7. Theoretical framework for plant-mycorrhizal symbiosis along moisture gradient…...66 8. Switchgrass aboveground growth responses to AM fungi along moisture gradient….67 9. Switchgrass belowground growth responses to AM fungi along moisture gradient….68 10. R/S ratio of switchgrass in response to AM fungi along moisture gradient…………69 11. Switchgrass belowground cell wall chemistry response along moisture gradient…..70 12. KBS LTER Cellulosic Biofuel Diversity Experiment plot layout…………………...91 x 13. Map of KBS LTER site………………………………………………………………92