Enhancing chickpea growth through arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus inoculation: facilitating nutrient uptake and shifting potential pathogenic fungal communities

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are the most widespread plant symbionts associated with plant roots, and theyperform numerous functions that contribute to plants' health and physiology. However, there are many knowledge gaps in how the interactions between AMF and root mycobiomes influence the performance of the host plants. To this end, we inoculated a local chickpea cultivar grown in agricultural soil under semi-controlled conditions with Rhizophagus irregularis. In addition to examining mycorrhizal colonization, plant biomass, and mineral nutrition, we sequenced the ITS region of the rDNA to assess the chickpea mycobiome and identify key fungal taxa potentially responding to R. irregularis inoculation. Our results showed that inoculation had a positive effect on chickpea biomass and mineral nutrition, especially the total aboveground phosphorus, potassium and sodium contents. Fusarium, Sporomia, Alternaria, and unknown Pleosporales were the most abundant taxa in the roots, while Stachybotris, Penicillum, Fusarium, Ascobolus, an unknown Pleosporales and Acrophialophora were the most abundant in the rhizosphere. Among the ASVs that either were enriched or depleted in the rhizosphere and roots are potential plant pathogens from the genera Didymella, Fusarium, Neocosmospora, and Stagonosporopsis. This study highlights the relevance of AMF inoculation not only for enhancing chickpea growth and mineral nutrition in semi-arid conditions but also for influencing the composition of the plants' fungal community which contributes to improved plant performance and resilience against biotic and abiotic stress.