PubMed · 2026-06-18
Soil fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizae can simultaneously boost wheat grain yield and protein content — a combination farmers have long struggled to achieve — but only in wheat varieties that efficiently convert nitrogen into grain.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi boosted both grain yield (via increased grain weight) and grain nitrogen concentration in wheat — overcoming the typical yield-protein trade-off — but only in varieties with high nitrogen conversion efficiency.
The fungi improved postanthesis (post-flowering) photosynthesis by enhancing phosphorus uptake, while simultaneously stimulating nitrogen uptake and assimilation during the same critical window.
The dual benefit depended on increased carbon allocation to roots after flowering, which sustained fungal hyphal networks and reshaped the surrounding bacterial community to increase soil nutrient availability.
