Photoacoustic monitoring of the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal infection on the photosynthesis of corn (Zea mays L.)

Abstract The general utility of the photoacoustic effect is demonstrated by examining in vivo and in situ, for the first time, the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal infection on the photosynthetic activity of intact maize leaves. Experiments correlating the photosynthetic O 2 evolution, after a dark induction period, through the photoacoustic effect in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal maize plants with their field performance show very consistent data. The influence of the arbuscular mycorrhizal infection on the photosynthetic efficiency is discussed. This methodology opens the possibility for early evaluation of the effect of fungi symbiotic adaptation with maize plants. For the arbuscular mycorrhizal-maize plant system, photoacoustics represents an extremely helpful technique for discarding low performance materials.