CHARACTERIZATION OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI IMPARTING SALINITY STRESS TOLERANCE IN RICE (Oryza sativa L.)

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Date
2019-08-01
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UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES GKVK, BANGALORE
Abstract
Endophytes are the microorganisms (fungi or bacteria) that lives inside the plant tissue symbiotically. They influence on plant growth and impart abiotic and biotic stress tolerance. In this study, twenty fungal isolates were screened (in-vitro) for salinity stress tolerance at different concentration of NaCl (0.50, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00 and 2.50M). Among 20 isolates, the four isolates viz., P-9, P-10, P-26 and P-35 showed growth at 2.50 M concentration. These four isolates were identified by comparing ITS region sequence amplified by PCR using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. These isolates were identified by using the sequence data available at National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, USA). The four fungal isolates (P-9, P-10, P-26 and P-35) were identified as Fusarium acuminatum, Fusarium tricinctum, Fusarium sp. and Setosphaeria rostrate respectively. The identified fungal isolates were evaluated by treating them with pre-germinated paddy (IR-64) seeds using blotter paper and paper towel methods. In both the methods, the two endophytes (Fusarium sp. and Fusarium tricinctum) showed increased root and shoot / seedling length compared to others. Therefore, these two endophytes were selected for pot experiment under greenhouse conditions. In the pot culture study, the endophytes inoculated plants showed significantly increased plant height, number of leaves and number of tillers besides increasing the chlorophyll content as compared to un-inoculated plants under salinity stress. This study, suggested that the inoculation of endophytes can impart tolerance to salinity stress and improves plant growth.
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