Answer: Answer: Any salts adding in large amounts will damage soil microbes to a greater or lesser
extent. Metals such as copper will affect all fungi and phosphates have a negative effect on
mycorrhizal fungi in particular. Mycorrhizal fungi have a role in the soil of scavenging for
phosphates and supplying them directly in plant available form to plant roots in exchange for
carbohydrates which fungi cannot manufacture because they are non- photosynthetic. Any
disruption to this symbiotic relationship causes loss of mycorrhizal fungi leading to loss of soil
structure and loss of water holding capacity. Look at literature in the journal ‘Acre’, J. of Soil
Microbiology, and others, for peer reviewed papers.
extent. Metals such as copper will affect all fungi and phosphates have a negative effect on
mycorrhizal fungi in particular. Mycorrhizal fungi have a role in the soil of scavenging for
phosphates and supplying them directly in plant available form to plant roots in exchange for
carbohydrates which fungi cannot manufacture because they are non- photosynthetic. Any
disruption to this symbiotic relationship causes loss of mycorrhizal fungi leading to loss of soil
structure and loss of water holding capacity. Look at literature in the journal ‘Acre’, J. of Soil
Microbiology, and others, for peer reviewed papers.
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