The effect of salinity and the application of Endophytic Fungus, Piriformospora indica, on yield and yield components of wheat

Subject Areas : Journal of Plant Ecophysiology

somayye hajinia ^{1 *} , mohammad javad zare ² , ebrahim mohammadi gol tappe ³

1 - گروه زراعت و اصلاح نباتات، دانشگاه ایلام
2 - گروه زراعت و اصلاح نباتات، دانشگاه ایلام
3 - گروه بیماری شناسی گیاهی، دانشگاه تربیت مدرس

Received: 2015-05-18 Accepted : 2015-05-18 Published : 2015-05-01

Keywords: Yield, Wheat, Saline Water, endophytic fungus,

Abstract :

Salinity is a major worldwide obstacle of crop production. A greenhouse experiment, using a factorial  experimental based on Completely Randomized Design with three replicates was conducted to investigate the effect of the endophytic fungus of Piriformospora indica on responses of wheat under different levels of salinity stress (0.2, 4, 8 and 12 dS m-1).  Salt stress decreased concentration of P, chlorophyll content and relative water content. Increasing in water salinity levels was accompanied in decreasing of relative water content. Plant colonized with the P. indica had a higher concentration of P and chlorophyll content. Yield and yield components of wheat were reduced under salt stress; however, application of the fungus decreased the negative effects of salinity and improved the yield. Number of grains per spike, grain weight and number of the spike per plant enhanced by the fungus treatment. Plants inoculated with P. indica had higher height and spike length compared to the non-inoculated plants under the highest salinity level. It is concluded that P. indica could reduce the negative effects of salinity stress in wheat plant.