Dose-dependent response of Trichoderma harzianum in improving drought tolerance in rice genotypes

Abstract

This study demonstrates a dose-dependent response of Trichoderma harzianum Th-56 in improving drought tolerance in rice by modulating proline, SOD, lipid peroxidation product and DHN / AQU transcript level, and the growth attributes. In the present study, the effect of colonization of different doses of T. harzianum Th-56 strain in rice genotypes were evaluated under drought stress. The rice genotypes treated with increasing dose of T. harzianum strain Th-56 showed better drought tolerance as compared with untreated control plant. There was significant change in malondialdehyde, proline, higher superoxide dismutase level, plant height, total dry matter, relative chlorophyll content, leaf rolling, leaf tip burn, and the number of scorched/senesced leaves in T. harzianum Th-56 treated rice genotypes under drought stress. This was corroborated with altered expression of aquaporin and dehydrin genes in T. harzianum Th-56 treated rice genotypes. The present findings suggest that a dose of 30 g/L was the most effective in improving drought tolerance in rice, and its potential exploitation will contribute to the advancement of rice genotypes to sustain crop productivity under drought stress. Interaction studies of T. harzianum with three aromatic rice genotypes suggested that PSD-17 was highly benefitted from T. harzianum colonization under drought stress.

Alleviation of the effects of saline-alkaline stress on maize seedlings by regulation of active oxygen metabolism by Trichoderma asperellum

“…Of the three fungal treatments tested here, the 1×10 9 spores/L was the most effective. This conclusion is similar to that reported in previous studies [21]. …”

“…In a previous study on Trichoderma -mediated induction of drought-resistant mechanisms in rice, we found that the effect increased with the concentration of fungal spores applied [21]. In the present study of saline-alkaline soil stress the Trichoderma -induced remission effect in the maize seedlings increased with fungal spore concentration.…”

“…Zhang et al applied a concentration of 1×10 8 to improve salt resistance in wheat through improving the antioxidant system [20]. Pandey et al used a 1×10 7 concentration of Trichoderma to alter the physiological and molecular mechanisms of drought resistance in rice [21]. Kumar et al applied a 1×10 8 concentration of Trichoderma to improve salt resistance in maize [22].…”

Lack of evidence for associative learning in pea plants

“…Many complex environmental responses have recently been discovered in plants, including luring in animal predators to attack herbivores in response to herbivory (De Moraes et al, 1998), production of toxins in response to distress signals from kin (Karban et al, 2013), and dose-dependent responses to insufficient water (Pandey et al, 2016) or excess salt (Julkowska and Testerink, 2015) in the soil. These responses demonstrate an impressive capacity to detect a variety of environmental signals and respond accordingly.…”

Pavlov’s pea plants? Not so fast. An attempted replication of Gaglianoet al. (December 2016)

“…Many complex environmental responses have recently been discovered in plants, including luring in animal predators to attack herbivores in response to herbivory (De Moraes et al , 1998) , production of toxins in response to distress signals from kin (Karban et al , 2013) , and dose-dependent responses to insufficient water (Pandey et al , 2016) or excess salt (Julkowska and Testerink, 2015) in the soil. These responses demonstrate an impressive capacity to detect a variety of environmental signals and respond accordingly.…”