Abstract
BackgroundWater-deficiency adversely affects crop growth by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) at cellular level. To mitigate such stressful events, it was aimed to investigate the co-synergism of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) and symbiosis of endophytic fungus with Capsicum annuum L. (pepper).ResultsThe findings of the study showed that exogenous SA (10-6 M) application to endophyte (Penicillium resedanum LK6) infected plants not only increased the shoot length and chlorophyll content but also improved the biomass recovery of pepper plants under polyethylene glycol (15%) induced osmotic stress (2, 4 and 8 days). Endophyte-infected plants had low cellular injury and high photosynthesis rate. SA also enhanced the colonization rate of endophyte in the host-plant roots. Endophyte and SA, in combination, reduced the production of ROS by increasing the total polyphenol, reduce glutathione, catalase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase as compared to control plants. Osmotic stress pronounced the lipid peroxidation and superoxide anions formation in control plants as compared to endophyte and SA-treated plants. The endogenous SA contents were significantly higher in pepper plants treated with endophyte and SA under osmotic stress as compared to control.ConclusionEndophytic fungal symbiosis and exogenous SA application can help the plants to relieve the adverse effects of osmotic stress by decreasing losses in biomass as compared to non-inoculated plants. These findings suggest that SA application positively impact microbial colonization while in combination, it reprograms the plant growth under various intervals of drought stress. Such symbiotic strategy can be useful for expanding agriculture production in drought prone lands.
Highlights
Water-deficiency adversely affects crop growth by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) at cellular level
When pepper plants were exposed to shortterm drought stress for two, four and eight days, the shoot length was significantly reduced in noninfected control plants as compared to endophyteelicited plants (Figure 1B and 2)
A similar growth dynamics was shown by the exogenous application of salicylic acid (SA) with or without exposure to drought stress conditions (Figure 2)
Summary
Water-deficiency adversely affects crop growth by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) at cellular level. To mitigate such stressful events, it was aimed to investigate the co-synergism of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) and symbiosis of endophytic fungus with Capsicum annuum L. Results: The findings of the study showed that exogenous SA (10-6 M) application to endophyte (Penicillium resedanum LK6) infected plants increased the shoot length and chlorophyll content and improved the biomass recovery of pepper plants under polyethylene glycol (15%) induced osmotic stress (2, 4 and 8 days). The endogenous SA contents were significantly higher in pepper plants treated with endophyte and SA under osmotic stress as compared to control. Continuous waves of drought cause an imbalance in the osmotic potential of the plant tissues, inducing the synthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [2]. In spite of the key role of SA in plant’s defence, its function during endophyte-association has received little attention [13]
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