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ARTICLE
Trichoderma-Induced Improvement in Growth, Photosynthetic Pigments, Proline, and Glutathione Levels in Cucurbita pepo Seedlings under Salt Stress
Mona H. Soliman1, Taghreed S. Alnusaire2, Nessreen F. Abdelbaky3,4, Aisha A. M. Alayafi5, Mirza Hasanuzzaman6,*, Mohamed M. Rowezak2, Mohamed El-Esawi7, Amr Elkelish8
1 Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt
2 Biology Department, College of Science, Jouf University, Sakaka, 2014, Saudi Arabia
3 Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Yanbu El-Bahr, 46429, Saudi Arabia
4 Desert Research Center, Cairo, 11753, Egypt
5 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, 23218, Saudi Arabia
6 Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh
7 Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt
8 Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt
* Corresponding Author: Mirza Hasanuzzaman. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Crop Production under Abiotic Stress: Physiological and Molecular Interventions)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2020, 89(3), 473-486. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.08795
Received 11 October 2019; Accepted 03 January 2020; Issue published 22 June 2020
Abstract
Salt stress is one of the major abiotic stress in plants. However,
traditional approaches are not always efficient in conferring salt tolerance. Experiments were conducted to understand the role of
Trichoderma spp. (
T. harzianum
and
T. viride) in growth, chlorophyll (Chl) synthesis, and proline accumulation of
C. pepo exposed to salinity stress. There were three salt stress (50, 100, and
150 mM NaCl) lavels and three different
Trichoderma inoculation viz.
T. harzianum,
T. viride, and
T. harzianum +
T. viride. Salt stress significantly declined the
growth in terms of the shoot and root lengths; however, it was improved by the
inoculation of
Trichoderma spp.
C. pepo inoculated with
Trichoderma exhibited
increased synthesis of pigments like chl
a, chl
b, carotenoids, and anthocyanins
under normal conditions. It was interesting to observe that such positive effects
were maintained under salt-stressed conditions, as reflected by the amelioration
of the salinity-mediated decline in growth, physiology and antioxidant defense.
The inoculation of
Trichoderma spp. enhanced the synthesis of proline, glutathione, proteins and increased the relative water content. In addition,
Trichoderma
inoculation increased membrane stability and reduced the generation of hydrogen peroxide. Therefore,
Trichoderma spp. can be exploited either individually
or in combination to enhance the growth and physiology of
C. pepo under saline
conditions.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Soliman, M. H., Alnusaire, T. S., Abdelbaky, N. F., A., A., Hasanuzzaman, M. et al. (2020).
Trichoderma-Induced Improvement in Growth, Photosynthetic Pigments, Proline, and Glutathione Levels in
Cucurbita pepo Seedlings under Salt Stress.
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, 89(3), 473–486.
Citations