Abstract
Drought stress is an important concern worldwide which reduces crop yield and quality. To alleviate this problem, Trichoderma asperellum has been used as a plant growth-promoting fungus capable of inducing plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we examined the effect of T. asperellum inoculation on sugarcane plant above and belowground development under drought stress and investigated the role of this fungus on inducing tolerance to drought at physiological and biochemical levels. The experiment was performed in pots under greenhouse conditions, with four treatments and four replicates. The treatments consisted of sugarcane plants inoculated or not with T. asperellum and grown under drought stress and adequate water availability. Drought-stressed sugarcane plants inoculated with T. asperellum changed the crop nutrition and chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations, resulting in increased photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, and water use efficiency compared to the non-inoculated plants. In addition, the antioxidant metabolism also changed, increasing the superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzyme activities, as well as the proline concentration and sugar portioning. These cascade effects enhanced the root and stalk development, demonstrating that T. asperellum inoculation is an important tool in alleviating the negative effects of drought stress in sugarcane. Future studies should be performed to elucidate if T. asperellum should be reapplied to the sugarcane ratoons.
Highlights
Drought stress is one of the major abiotic stresses worldwide affecting plant growth, development, and crop yield (Basu et al, 2016; Rosa et al, 2020)
Our study evaluated the acquisition of nutrients, the concentration of photosynthetic pigments, gas exchange parameters, antioxidant metabolism, and root growth and stalk yield in sugarcane plants submitted to drought stress under application of the T. asperellum inoculant
The nitrogen leaf concentration from sugarcane plants inoculated with T. asperellum increased by 14% when established under optimal water availability, and 22% under drought stress (Supplementary Figure 2A)
Summary
Drought stress is one of the major abiotic stresses worldwide affecting plant growth, development, and crop yield (Basu et al, 2016; Rosa et al, 2020). Grown under low water availability conditions, sugarcane often produces a significantly low stalk yield with poor technology quality, culminating in low sugar and ethanol production. Soils with low fertility and, generally, sandy texture present themselves as limiting factors for the development of sugarcane (Bordonal et al, 2018). This occurs due to the low storage capacity of water and nutrients in the soil, especially in periods of high resource demand for the plant (Ribeiro et al, 2013; Marcos et al, 2018b)
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