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Soil pollution from potentially toxic elements (PTEs) is a serious environmental issue worldwide that affects agricultural safety and human health. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), as ecosystem engineers, can alleviate PTE toxicity in crop plants. However, the comprehensive effects of AMF on crop performance in PTE-contaminated soils have not yet been recognized globally. Here, a meta-analysis of 153 studies with 3213 individual observations was conducted to evaluate the effects of AMF on the growth and PTE accumulation of five staple crops (wheat, rice, maize, soybean, and sorghum) in contaminated soils. Our results demonstrated that AMF had strong positive effects on the shoot and root biomass. This is because AMF can effectively alleviate oxidative damage induced by PTEs by stimulating photosynthesis, promoting nutrition, and activating non-enzymatic and enzymatic defense systems in crop plants. AMF also decreased shoot PTE accumulation by 23.6% and increased root PTE accumulation by 0.8%, demonstrating that AMF effectively inhibited the PTE transfer and uptake by crop shoot. Meanwhile, AMF-mediated effects on shoot PTE accumulation were weaker in soils with pH > 7.5. Overall, this global survey has essential implications on the ability of AMF to enhance crop performance in PTE-contaminated soils and provides insights into the guidelines for safe agricultural production worldwide.
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