Abstract
The current climate changes in the form of global warming are one of the leading threats to agricultural crops (including soybean and sunflower). To enable the crops to cope with the heat stress, innovative steps are needed to be taken as soon as possible. Fungal endophytes are known to secrete secondary metabolites that promote the growth of host plants under stress conditions. Therefore, we have isolated endophytic fungus from Euphorbia indica (a wild desert plant) and tested it for plant growth promoting activities. The culture filtrate of the fungal strains exhibited the presence of secondary metabolites. Higher amounts of indole acetic acid (IAA), salicylic acid (SA), flavonoids, and phenolics have been found in the culture filtrate. The 18S rDNA sequence homology and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the isolate is Aspergillus flavus. Soybean and sunflower seedlings were inoculated with the identified A. flavus. The A. flavus-associated seedlings along with the control (without A. flavus) were monitored for thermal stress resistance in a growth chamber, operated at 25°C and 40°C. Control seedlings exposed to high temperature stress had higher levels of abscisic acid (ABA), proline, and lower levels of phenols, flavonoids, catalase, and ascorbic acid oxidase. Similarly, a higher reduction in chlorophyll, root-shoot length, and dry weight has been noticed in the control seedlings. The results suggested the usefulness of A. flavus in host plant growth promotion under heat stress conditions.
Highlights
In the present era, food shortage is one of the basic problems among the fastest growing population around the world
EuR-6 was isolated from the roots and leaves of Euphorbia indica (Figure S1)
Eur-6 was isolated on Hagam minimal medium and purified on potato dextrose agar (PDA) media plates on the basis of morphological differences
Summary
Food shortage is one of the basic problems among the fastest growing population around the world. Drought, CO2, salinity, UV radiations, O3, and pathogens are the most common vagaries of climate change that affects the crop quality and yield [1, 2]. The change in temperature of the growing area poses severe threat regarding the quality yield of these crop species. Endophytic fungi offer the host plants with great resistance against a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses [3,4,5,6]. These endophytes can significantly alter physiological, morphological, anatomical, and molecular aspects of host plants [7,8,9]. Phytohormonebalance (ABA, gibberellic acid (GA), IAA, jasmonic acid (JA), and SA), mineral uptake, and enhanced lipids, proteins and carbohydrate contents are noteworthy [10]
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