Agriculture and horticulture
R. Rostami; B. Esmaielpour; S.A. Hosseini; G. Salimi; A. Etminan
Abstract
To investigate the effects of mycorrhizal fungi on growth characteristics, physiology, and essential oil yield of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) under lead (Pb) stress, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in the research greenhouse of University ...
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To investigate the effects of mycorrhizal fungi on growth characteristics, physiology, and essential oil yield of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) under lead (Pb) stress, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in the research greenhouse of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili (UMA) in 2018. Experimental treatments included different levels of Pb heavy metal (0, 200, and 400 ppm) and inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi (without inoculation, inoculation with Funneliformis mosseae, and Claroideoglomus etunicatum). The results showed that in comparison with the control, with increasing Pb concentration in the soil, plant height (40.56%), number of leaves (36.09%), stem dry weight (43.50%), essential oil percentage (40%), and cell membrane stability (16.14%) were significantly decreased, while proline content (51.72%) and catalase activity (45%) of the leaves increased. Inoculation of thyme with the mycorrhizal fungi was effective in increasing the vegetative indices in presence of Pb heavy metal so that both G. mosseae and G. etunicatum increased the number of leaves by 66.20 and 9.55% compared to the control, respectively. Also, inoculation with G. mosseae under severe Pb stress conditions (400 ppm) increased leaf proline content (11.49%), peroxidase enzyme activity (8.8%), chlorophyll b (21%), total chlorophyll (70.43%), carotenoids (19.6%), and essential oil percentage (55%) compared to the control. Overall, both mycorrhizal fungi were effective on alleviation of Pb toxicity effects and F. mosseae had better performance, especially in terms of morphological traits and essential oil yield. Due to the negative effects of heavy elements on human health, the recommendations to use mycorrhizal fungi to reduce the absorption of heavy metals in plants should be done with more consideration of all aspects including the plant and fungus species type and rate and pollution type.
Gh. Salimi; M. Feizian; N. Aliasgharzad
Abstract
Drought stress causes reduction in growth and changes in biochemical indices of plants. In order to investigate the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and selenium on reduction the detrimental effects of drought stress in Moldavian balm (Dracocephalum moldavica L.), a split plot-factorial experiment ...
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Drought stress causes reduction in growth and changes in biochemical indices of plants. In order to investigate the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and selenium on reduction the detrimental effects of drought stress in Moldavian balm (Dracocephalum moldavica L.), a split plot-factorial experiment based on complete randomized block design with four replications was carried out under greenhouse condition. The main factor was three levels of drought [control, 0.75 Maximum Allowable Depletion (MAD) and 0.5 MAD] and sub factors included selenium at three levels (0, 100 μg per plant and 200 μg per plant) and inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi in two levels (non-inoculated as control and Glomus.verciforme). The results indicated that drought stress reduced height, dry weight and leaf area of plants. The lowest and highest value for all of these characteristics was obtained at 0.75 MAD and without drought stress, respectively. In non-stress condition, height, dry weight and leaf area of plants obtained from inoculation with mycorrhizal fungus and selenium were significantly higher than those of control. In all levels of drought stress, the content of catalase and peroxidase enzymes in plants inoculated with mycorrhizal fungus and selenium was significantly higher than that of control. The lowest content of catalase enzyme (25.06) was obtained in control and lowest content of peroxidase (14.81) was in the treatment with mycorrhizal fungus and selenium under 0.75 MAD drought stress. The highest content of catalase enzyme (53.62) was in inoculation with mycorrhizal fungus and 200μg selenium without stress, and the highest content of peroxidase (31.59) was obtained in 0.5 MAD stress and inoculation with mycorrhizal fungus and 200 μg selenium. Also, in condition of inoculation with fungus and selenium, the content of proline and MDA increased about 1 to 1.5 folds and about 1.3 to 1.5 folds, respectively, more than the control. Results showed that the presence of mycorrhiza and selenium in drought stress condition had a positive effect on growth and biochemical indices studied.
