Open Access

ARTICLE

AM Fungi and Piriformospora indica Improve Plant Growth of Pinus elliottii Seedlings

Taoze Sun, Wei Tan, Yujie Yang, Hongna Mu^*

College of Horticulture and Gardening, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, 434025, China

* Corresponding Author: Hongna Mu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Mycorrhizal Fungi and Sustainable Development of Agriculture)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(1), 171-178. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.013668

Received 26 August 2020; Accepted 14 September 2020; Issue published 20 November 2020

Abstract

Pinus elliottii is an exotic afforestation pine extensively distributed in southern parts of China. In order to understand whether endophytic fungi can affect seedling growth of P. elliottii, Piriformospora indica (Pi), Funnelifcrmis mosseae (Fm), and Diversispora tortuosa (Dt) were inoculated respectively, and the non-inoculated group was set as control. The growth indexes, the contents of soluble sugar and soluble protein, and plant endogenous hormone levels in the leaves of P. elliottii, were analyzed. The results showed that Fm, Dt and Pi colonized the P. elliottii roots to form mycorrhizal structure and chlamydospores arranged in beads respectively. Three fungal inoculants exhibited the stimulated growth responses, whilst Dt illustrated the most positive effect on plant height, single fresh weight, trunk diameter and root system structure, compared with the control. On the other hand, the soluble sugar and soluble protein contents were increased distinctively in mycorrhizal plants. The endogenous IAA, GA3, ZR contents were increased, while the ABA contents were reduced in mycorrhizal plants versus non-mycorrhizal plants. The fungi-induced endogenous hormone changes triggered plant growth improvement of P. elliottii seedlings. This research unraveled the positive effect of AM fungi and P. indica on growth of pine seedlings, while, more application of endophytic fungi to fields needs to be explored.

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