Abstract
Abstract Insufficient dietary intake of zinc (Zn) is a significant public health concern globally, as it is closely linked to impaired immune function and pregnancy complications. Addressing this issue may include strategies such as agronomic biofortification of globally important vegetables. For example, lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.) contributes to the dietary intake of millions of people and may be well used for agronomic biofortification. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), symbiotic with 80% of terrestrial plants, also facilitate nutrient uptake, contributing to improving the nutritional value of crops. Our research aimed to assess the effects of AMF inoculation and Zn fertilization on plant growth and biofortification of lettuce leaves. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design, in a double factorial arrangement (5 × 2), composed of five rates of Zn (0, 8, 32, 64, and 96 mg dm −3 ) and two levels of mycorrhizal inoculation (presence and absence) with 10 replicates. Plant growth, AMF colonization, and plant Zn uptake were measured. AMF inoculation substantially increased AMF root colonization across all Zn levels, while non‐inoculated plants presented an 89% decrease in root colonization at the highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 ). Without inoculation, high Zn fertilization reduced lettuce yield by 16% at the highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 ), with no negative effects in inoculated plants. Inoculated plants produced 37% more fresh biomass without Zn fertilization (0 mg Zn dm −3 ) and 68% more at the highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 ) compared to non‐inoculated plants. Fertilized plants were successfully biofortified, reaching Zn concentrations eightfold (inoculated plants) to 10‐fold (non‐inoculated plants) higher than controls. AMF inoculation promoted superior Zn absorption under toxic Zn levels while inhibiting detrimental effects of Zn toxicity on plant growth. Therefore, our data provide new evidence that AMF inoculation enables the application of high Zn rates in lettuce biofortification programs while enhancing plant growth.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by-nc-nd. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
AMF inoculation increased lettuce root colonization at all Zn levels.
- Taxon
- lettuce
Lactuca sativae1 - Treatment
- AMF inoculatione0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- AMF root colonizatione0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF inoculation substantially increased AMF root colonization across all Zn levels”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Uninoculated lettuce had 89% less root colonization at the highest Zn rate.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Treatment
- highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 )e0
- Outcome
- root colonizatione0
- Direction
- decreasee0
- Value
- 89%e0
- Qualifier
- non‐inoculated plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“non‐inoculated plants presented an 89% decrease in root colonization at the highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 )”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
High Zn fertilization reduced uninoculated lettuce yield by 16%.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae0
- Treatment
- high Zn fertilizatione0
- Outcome
- lettuce yielde0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 16%e0
- Qualifier
- Without inoculatione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Without inoculation, high Zn fertilization reduced lettuce yield by 16% at the highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 )”
Claim · model-written summary
High Zn fertilization had no negative effect on inoculated lettuce yield.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae2
- Treatment
- high Zn fertilizatione1
- Outcome
- lettuce yielde1
- Direction
- no negative effectse0
- Qualifier
- inoculated plantse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“with no negative effects in inoculated plants”
e1“high Zn fertilization reduced lettuce yield”
e2“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Inoculation increased fresh biomass by 37% without Zn fertilization.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Treatment
- Inoculated plantse0
- Outcome
- fresh biomasse0
- Direction
- moree0
- Value
- 37%e0
- Qualifier
- without Zn fertilization (0 mg Zn dm −3 )e0
- Comparator
- non‐inoculated plantse0
Not reportedInteractor
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Inoculated plants produced 37% more fresh biomass without Zn fertilization (0 mg Zn dm −3 ) and 68% more at the highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 ) compared to non‐inoculated plants.”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Inoculation increased fresh biomass by 68% at the highest Zn rate.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Treatment
- Inoculated plantse0
- Outcome
- fresh biomasse0
- Direction
- moree0
- Value
- 68%e0
- Qualifier
- highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 )e0
- Comparator
- non‐inoculated plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Inoculated plants produced 37% more fresh biomass without Zn fertilization (0 mg Zn dm −3 ) and 68% more at the highest Zn rate (96 mg Zn dm −3 ) compared to non‐inoculated plants.”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilized inoculated lettuce attained eightfold higher Zn concentration than controls.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Treatment
- Fertilized plantse0
- Outcome
- Zn concentrationse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- eightfolde0
- Qualifier
- inoculated plantse0
- Comparator
- controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fertilized plants were successfully biofortified, reaching Zn concentrations eightfold (inoculated plants) to 10‐fold (non‐inoculated plants) higher than controls.”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilized uninoculated lettuce attained tenfold higher Zn concentration than controls.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Treatment
- Fertilized plantse0
- Outcome
- Zn concentrationse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 10‐folde0
- Qualifier
- non‐inoculated plantse0
- Comparator
- controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fertilized plants were successfully biofortified, reaching Zn concentrations eightfold (inoculated plants) to 10‐fold (non‐inoculated plants) higher than controls.”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF inoculation improved Zn absorption under toxic Zn levels.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Treatment
- AMF inoculatione0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- Zn absorptione0
- Direction
- superiore0
- Qualifier
- toxic Zn levelse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF inoculation promoted superior Zn absorption under toxic Zn levels”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF inoculation inhibited the harmful effect of Zn toxicity on plant growth.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Treatment
- AMF inoculatione0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- detrimental effects of Zn toxicity on plant growthe0
- Direction
- inhibitinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF inoculation promoted superior Zn absorption under toxic Zn levels while inhibiting detrimental effects of Zn toxicity on plant growth.”
e1“lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors propose AMF inoculation for high Zn lettuce biofortification while enhancing growth.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae0
- Treatment
- AMF inoculatione0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- application of high Zn rates in lettuce biofortification programs while enhancing plant growthe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF inoculation enables the application of high Zn rates in lettuce biofortification programs while enhancing plant growth”
The same questions in other papers
zinc atom · yield · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
4 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
4 papers more in this group
See all 8 papers →inoculation · pest · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- negative
- no effect
- positive
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →mycorrhiza · disease · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
7 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- no effect
5 papers more in this group
See all 9 papers →mycorrhiza · nutrient: content · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
12 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- positive
- no effect
- positive
10 papers more in this group
See all 14 papers →inoculation · nutrient: content · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
23 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- negative
- no effect
22 papers more in this group
See all 26 papers →inoculation · disease · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
12 papers in the same direction as this paper · 16 in the opposite direction
- positive
- negative
- negative
25 papers more in this group
See all 29 papers →inoculation · growth · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
96 papers in the same direction as this paper · 12 in the opposite direction · 2 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- no effect
- negative
107 papers more in this group
See all 111 papers →fertilization · nutrient: content · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
111 papers in the same direction as this paper · 23 in the opposite direction · 2 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- negative
- no effect
133 papers more in this group
See all 137 papers →8 of 9 groups shown: named compounds and organisms first, then groups whose results differ (checked claim by claim), then those with positive and negative results, then the smaller groups.
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.