Use of the Signature Fatty Acid 16:1ω5 as a Tool to Determine the Distribution of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Soil

Table 2

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) extraradical mycelium length and hyphal biomass in amaranth plots estimated morphologically and by phospholipid fatty acid biomarker 16:1ω5 (% DW soil ± SD), respectively, at 0–5 and 5–10 cm soil depths, amended with mineral (NPK) and organic (cattle manure + biodynamic preparations) fertilizers, applied at low and high amounts.

	Mineral		Organic
	Low	High	Low	High
0–5 cm
PLFA 16:1𝜔5 (nmol g^−1 dry soil)	0.43 ± 0.22	0.55 ± 0.22	0.63 ± 0.07	1.13 ± 0.66
Hyphal length (m g^−1 dry soil)	3.96 ± 2.39	1.53 ± 0.70	2.08 ± 1.12	2.35 ± 1.36
5–10 cm
PLFA 16:1𝜔5 (nmol g^−1 dry soil)	0.51 ± 0.18	0.53 ± 0.3	0.76 ± 0.17	0.71 ± 0.14
Hyphal length (m g^−1 dry soil)	2.46 ± 1.37	1.78 ± 1.16	1.82 ± 1.01	1.99 ± 1.71