Abstract:To reveal the effects of vesicular——arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the photosynthesis of Bidens pilosa L., three drought treatments were imposed: well watered(A), intermediate drought treatment(B)and serious drought treatment(C). Net photosynthetic rate(Pn), stomatal conductance(Gs), transpiration rate(Tr), intercellular CO2 concentration(Ci), carboxylation efficiency(CE) and water use efficiency (WUE) were compared between plants infected with Glomus mosseae (AM plants) and those not infected (Non-AM plants), under different water treatments. The results showed that the Pn, Gs, Tr, CE of plants decreased significantly under drought stress. Ci decreased at the early stage of drought stress (7d), but rose as the soil water content decreased at the late stage of drought stress. The water use efficiency (WUE) of intermediate drought stress plants was higher than control, while the WUE of seriously stressed plants was lower than that of control plants. The photosynthetic parameters of well watered plants were not significantly affected by G. mosseae infection. During the first 28d of the drought treatment, AM plants had higher Pn, Gs, Tr and CE than non-AM plants under intermediate drought stress, but they showed no significant difference under serious drought stress. It was concluded that drought stress did affect the photosynthesis of Bidens pilosa L. because of stomatal resistances at the early stage of treatment and nonstomatal limitation at the later stage of treatment. The photosynthesis of well watered plants was not affected by G. mosseae infection. However, under drought stress, AMF improved the Gs and CE of plants to compensate for the injury caused by drought, whilst this compensatory response was limited by the more severe and longer drought treatment.