Record ID No. |
3988 |
Author(s) |
Ming-Qin Cao; Qiang-Sheng Wu; Ying-Ning Zou , 2013 |
Affiliation |
College of Horticulture and Gardening, Yangtze University, No. 88 Jingmi Road, Jingzhou, Hubei 434025, People’s Republic of China, Email: (Qiang-Sheng Wu) wuqiangsh@163.com |
Title |
An improved ink-acetic acid technique for staining arbuscular mycorrhizas of citrus |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 15(2): 386-388p. |
Categories |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza |
Subjects |
Soil plant relations |
Sub-subjects |
Cultural Studies |
Host |
Poncirus trifoliata |
Organism |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (AM) |
Country |
China, East Asia |
Abstracts |
Trypan blue is usually applied to stain arbuscular mycorrhizas of higher plant roots, whilst it is harmful for human health. The objective of the study was to exploit a safe, non-toxic, and cheap technique for staining mycorrhizal structure of plants such as citrus (Citrus unshiu grafted on Poncirus trifoliata). The 1-2 cm root segments were cleared with 10% KOH for 90 min at 95ºC, blanched with H2O2 (10%) for 15 min, acidified with 0.2 mol/L HCl for 10 min, stained with 5% black, blue or red ink prepared with 5% acetic acid for 3-8 min, and destained with 5% acetic acid. It is clear that both 5% blue ink-acetic acid solution and 0.05% trypan blue solution showed better color contrast and visible mycorrhizal structures. The mycorrhizal colonization of roots stained with 5% blue ink-acetic acid solution for 3-5 min was not significantly different, compared with 0.05% trypan blue staining for 5 min. On the other hand, the mycorrhizal colonization was higher in the roots stained with the 5% blue ink-acetic acid or 0.05% trypan blue than with the other ink-acetic acid staining. The results suggest that use of trypan blue for arbuscular mycorrhizal staining could be replaced with 5% blue ink-acetic acid solution for 3-5 min, at least in citrus roots. |