Effect of different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on growth and physiology of maize at ambient and low temperature regimes.

Xiaoying Chen,Fengbin Song,Hongwen Xu,Fulai Liu,Xiancan Zhu,Shengqun Liu,Chunjie Tian

doi:10.1155/2014/956141

Abstract

The effect of four different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the growth and lipid peroxidation, soluble sugar, proline contents, and antioxidant enzymes activities of Zea mays L. was studied in pot culture subjected to two temperature regimes. Maize plants were grown in pots filled with a mixture of sandy and black soil for 5 weeks, and then half of the plants were exposed to low temperature for 1 week while the rest of the plants were grown under ambient temperature and severed as control. Different AMF resulted in different root colonization and low temperature significantly decreased AM colonization. Low temperature remarkably decreased plant height and total dry weight but increased root dry weight and root-shoot ratio. The AM plants had higher proline content compared with the non-AM plants. The maize plants inoculated with Glomus etunicatum and G. intraradices had higher malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contents under low temperature condition. The activities of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase of AM inoculated maize were higher than those of non-AM ones. Low temperature noticeably decreased the activities of CAT. The results suggest that low temperature adversely affects maize physiology and AM symbiosis can improve maize seedlings tolerance to low temperature stress.

Highlights

Low temperature is one of the important abiotic factors limiting agricultural productivity and geographical distribution of plants in the world [1, 2]
The results showed that temperature, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) strain, and their interaction significantly affected the colonization rate (Figure 1)
In relation to the ambient temperature, under low temperature the colonization rate decreased by 17.7% in average across the four AMF strains, and the reduction was evident for G. etunicatum and G. tortuosum

Summary

Introduction

Low temperature is one of the important abiotic factors limiting agricultural productivity and geographical distribution of plants in the world [1, 2]. Maize (Zea mays L.) originates from the subtropical regions and is known to be sensitive to low temperature stress. The membrane damage is accompanied by the increased leakage of electrolytes, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and lipid peroxidation [2, 5]. The overproduction of ROS causes the production and scavenging system to be out of balance which causes damage to lipid, protein, DNA, and other important macromolecules [6]. Some osmotic adjustments such as proline and soluble sugar accumulation may protect cellular membrane against low temperature stress

Methods

Results

Conclusion