Trichoderma citrinoviride: A Potent Biopriming Agent for the Alleviation of Salt Stress in Maize

Abstract

The rapid increase in global population and industrial pollution pose severe environmental threats to agriculture that are exacerbated by salt stress. Molecular characterization of new fungal isolates and assessment of their impact on agriculture might be an eco-friendly approach to modulating salt tolerance. Herein, fungal seed biopriming was conducted on salt (NaCl) stressed maize in a dose-dependent manner. Genetic lineages of fungi were identified using well-known fungal ITS (internal transcribed spacer) barcodes that revealed similarity to the Trichoderma citrinoviride (T11C) species. Fv/Fm, ETR and qP were recorded as close to optimum in bioprimed maize plants after application of salt stress. NPQ (nonphotochemical quenching) decreased slightly in respective groups. Higher photosynthetic pigment contents were also detected. T11C seed biopriming decreased the lipid oxidation remarkably under salt stress. SOD, GPX, GR and CAT activities were not found to be significantly induced in the roots or leaves of T11C after biopriming. However, higher RWC (relative water content), soluble protein and proline were measured in bioprimed test groups treated with high salt stress, demonstrating increased osmoregulatory capacity. Our ongoing research is directed toward developing powdered fungal biopreperations to assay multiple stress tolerances in agriculture for agroeconomically important cereals such as maize.

Keywords

• Trichoderma citrinoviride,seed biopriming,maize,chloropyhll fluorescence

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