Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and dark septate endophytes in grapevine: The potential for sustainable viticulture?

Abstract

Viticulture is an important agronomic sector that has the potential to greatly benefit by improvements in our understanding of grapevine cultivation. Although conventional viticulture relies to a great extent on pesticide and fertilizer application, more sustainable approaches involve management practices that favor plant-fungus interactions that have positive effects on the nutritional quality of the grapes and reduce production costs (i.e., of pesticides and fertilizers) and thus reduce the negative effects on the environment. Fungal endophytes that colonize grapevines belong to different taxa, with the majority of reports focusing on fungi that form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations. These fungal endophytes have been demonstrated to confer beneficial growth and nutrition effects to their plant hosts via improved exploitation of the substrate and improved tolerance of the grapevine to abiotic and biotic stresses. Here, we review current knowledge on the importance and potential of these diverse fungal groups for grapevine production and expose the gaps in our understanding of possible functions of fungal groups that are currently little studied. In addition, we underline the effects of sustainable agricultural practices on fungal communities, to boost the progress in different viticultural techniques on the interactions between fungal endophytes and grapevines.