Abstract
Masson pine is an important afforestation species in southern China, where seasonal drought is common. The present study focused on the effects of Suillus placidus, an ectomycorrhizal fungus, inoculation on the growth and physiological and biochemical performance of masson pine seedlings under four different watering treatments (well-watered, mild drought, moderate drought, and severe drought) to evaluate the symbiotic relationship between S. placidus and masson pine seedlings. Ectomycorrhizal-inoculated (ECM) and non-inoculated (NM) seedlings were grown in pots and maintained for 60 days using the weighing method. Results showed that seedlings’ growth, dry weight, RWC, chlorophyll content, PSII efficiency, and photosynthesis decreased as drought stress intensified in both ECM and NM plants. This suggests that drought stress significantly limits the growth and photosynthetic performance of masson pine seedlings. Nevertheless, increased An/gs and proline contents in both NM and ECM prevented oxidative damage caused by drought stress. In addition, increased peroxidase (POD) activity is an essential defense mechanism of ECM seedling under drought stress. Compared with NM, ECM seedlings showed faster growth, higher RWC, and photosynthetic performance, and lower lipid peroxidation in cell membranes under drought stress, as indicated by higher POD activity and lower proline and malondialdehyde (MDA). Our experiment found that S. placidus inoculation can enhance the drought resistance of masson pine seedlings by increasing antioxidant enzyme activity, water use efficiency, and proline content, thereby enhancing growth under water-deficiency conditions. S. placidus can be used to cultivate high-quality seedlings and improve their survival in regions that experience seasonal droughts.
Highlights
Drought stress is one of the factors limiting the survival, growth, and productivity of plants, and the frequency of droughts is expected to increase soon due to climate change [1]
Owing to the fact there has been little research on the resistance of S. placidus to drought in Pinus species, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of S. placidus colonization on the physiological performance of masson pine seedlings subjected to four watering treatments
Stem diameter, and dry weight (DW) of both ECM and NM seedlings, while the degree of reduction increased with increasing drought stress (Table 1)
Summary
Drought stress is one of the factors limiting the survival, growth, and productivity of plants, and the frequency of droughts is expected to increase soon due to climate change [1]. Drought stress results in low survival rates and poor early-stage growth of soil seedlings in reforestation practices [3,4]. Some plants alter their morphology and physiology to overcome drought stress [5], including changes in the mechanism of intracellular enzymatic reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, contents of osmotic adjustment substances, and leaf morphology and leaf character for improved water efficiency [6,7]. Given the negative effects of drought on plants, it is necessary to devise suitable strategies that improve plant tolerance to drought stress Beneficial soil microorganisms, such as ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECMF), are extremely important because they contribute toward enhancing plant growth and drought resistance [8]. Chen et al [14] found that ECMF inoculation reduced the total dry weight of the host plant
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