Abstract
Agricultural systems in Mediterranean-type climates are increasingly threatened by drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, heavy metal contamination, and pathogen pressure, all of which undermine crop productivity and agroecosystem stability. In this context, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), natural symbionts of most terrestrial plants, emerge as key biological agents capable of enhancing crop resilience. Following PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review synthesizes current knowledge on the role of AMF in mitigating abiotic and biotic stresses, highlighting their potential as a central component of sustainable Mediterranean agriculture. The available evidence demonstrates that AMF symbiosis significantly increases plant tolerance to multiple stressors across major crop families, including Poaceae, Fabaceae, Solanaceae, and Asteraceae. Under abiotic constraints, AMF improve water and nutrient uptake via extensive hyphal networks, modulate ion homeostasis under salinity, enhance tolerance to thermal extremes, and reduce heavy metal toxicity by immobilizing contaminants. Regarding biotic stresses, AMF induce systemic resistance to pathogens, stimulate secondary metabolite production that deters herbivores, and suppress parasitic nematode populations. Moreover, co-inoculation with other biostimulants, such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, shows synergistic benefits, further improving crop productivity and resource-use efficiency. Overall, AMF represent an effective and multifunctional nature-based tool for improving the sustainability of Mediterranean agroecosystems. However, further research is required to evaluate AMF performance under simultaneous multiple stress factors, thereby reflecting real-world conditions and enabling a more integrated understanding of their agronomic potential.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
AMF improve water and nutrient uptake of crops under abiotic constraints.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“Under abiotic constraints, AMF improve water and nutrient uptake via extensive hyphal networks”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF modulate ion homeostasis of crops under salinity.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“modulate ion homeostasis under salinity”
e1“Under abiotic constraints, AMF improve water and nutrient uptake via extensive hyphal networks, modulate ion homeostasis under salinity, enhance tolerance to thermal extremes, and reduce heavy metal toxicity by immobilizing contaminants”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF enhance crop tolerance to thermal extremes.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“enhance tolerance to thermal extremes”
e1“Under abiotic constraints, AMF improve water and nutrient uptake via extensive hyphal networks, modulate ion homeostasis under salinity, enhance tolerance to thermal extremes, and reduce heavy metal toxicity by immobilizing contaminants”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF reduce heavy metal toxicity to crops by immobilizing contaminants.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“reduce heavy metal toxicity by immobilizing contaminants”
e1“Under abiotic constraints, AMF improve water and nutrient uptake via extensive hyphal networks, modulate ion homeostasis under salinity, enhance tolerance to thermal extremes, and reduce heavy metal toxicity by immobilizing contaminants”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF induce systemic resistance of crops to pathogens.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“AMF induce systemic resistance to pathogens”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF stimulate secondary metabolite production in crops that deters herbivores.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“stimulate secondary metabolite production that deters herbivores”
e1“Regarding biotic stresses, AMF induce systemic resistance to pathogens, stimulate secondary metabolite production that deters herbivores, and suppress parasitic nematode populations”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF suppress parasitic nematode populations on crops.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“suppress parasitic nematode populations”
e1“Regarding biotic stresses, AMF induce systemic resistance to pathogens, stimulate secondary metabolite production that deters herbivores, and suppress parasitic nematode populations”
Claim · model-written summary
Co-inoculation with other biostimulants improves crop productivity and resource-use efficiency with synergistic benefits.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“co-inoculation with other biostimulants, such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, shows synergistic benefits, further improving crop productivity and resource-use efficiency”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF symbiosis significantly increases plant tolerance to multiple stressors across major crop families.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“AMF symbiosis significantly increases plant tolerance to multiple stressors across major crop families”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF are an effective nature-based tool for improving the sustainability of Mediterranean agroecosystems.
Verbatim
t0“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mitigate Crop Multi-Stresses”
e0“AMF represent an effective and multifunctional nature-based tool for improving the sustainability of Mediterranean agroecosystems”