Rooting for growth: Meta-analyzing the role of Endophytic fungi in plant growth

Abstract

Endophytic fungi are a polyphyletic group of fungi that colonize inter or intracellular spaces of plants establishing mutually beneficial relationship with plants. As they present a high potential for plant growth, they are often objective of biotechnological development, especially for their use in agriculture. However, a broader perspective of its effect remains unclear. So, this study aimed to analyze, through a meta-analytical review, the general effects of these organisms as plant growth promoters. The Scopus database was used, with the terms ((endophy* AND fung*) AND ("plant growth" OR "plant development" OR bioinoculant OR "biological inoculant")). The documents were filtered to keep only thos e relevant to the study, and statistical data was collected and analyzed using MetaWin software. Fifty-eight studies with 1004 tests were found. The effects were generally positive, i.e., the endophytic fungi could stimulate plant productivity in the tested plants (Effect size: +0.2784). It was possible to see that the endophytes had the best results when used in the soil, on plants in the monocot group, and on those with an annual life cycle. Fungi from the Saccharomycetes class performed best, especially regarding increasing plant height. Thus, endophytic fungi are promising candidates for plant growth, and further studies are required to understand the patterns with the best results.