Effect of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Growth and Antioxidant Activity in Gmelina arborea Roxb. under Salt Stress Condition

Abstract

Gmelina arborea Roxb. is medicinally and economically important tree species were selected for study. An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus fasciculatum on salt stress tolerance of tree species Gmelina arborea. Mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal seedlings were treated with 100 mM and 200 mM concentration of NaCl. G. fasciculatum treated plant showed increase in fresh and dry weight, greater percentage of mycorrhizal colonization, higher accumulation of proline and chlorophyll content with increasing levels of salinity. G. fasciculatum colonization significantly increased tolerance of salinity, acid phosphatases, and Proline content and also antioxidant enzymes like peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase at all levels of salinity treatments of Gmelina plants in comparison with non-mycorrhizal salinity treated plants. These results demonstrate that AM fungus (G. fasciculatum) is very effective in strengthening the tolerance of Gmelina arborea grown in arid and semi arid areas.

Proline Accumulation Influenced by Osmotic Stress in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiotic Plants

“…Proline accumulation was also found to be increased in control plants with increasing salinity. Dudhane et al (2011) suggest that proline accumulation in both non-mycorrhizal and mycorrhizal plants increased significantly by increasing salinity. Rabie and Almadini (2005) also reported increasing salinity level resulted in an increase of the proline concentrations in both AM plants and non-AM plants, when compared to AM plants, non-AM plants had a higher proline concentration especially at high level of salinity.…”

“…Alternatively, there are also reports which show that AMF inoculation considerably decreased proline accumulation ( Wu and Xia, 2006 ; Sheng et al, 2008 ; Borde et al, 2011 ; Echeverria et al, 2013 ) while sufficient data demonstrate the increase ( Jindal et al, 1993 ; Jahromi et al, 2008 ; Elhindi et al, 2017 ). On the contrary, some studies also indicate a null effect on proline accumulation ( Dudhane et al, 2011 ; Estrada et al, 2013 ) (Table 1 ). According to Ruiz-Lozano et al (1996a) , mycorrhizal plants are lower in proline accumulation (except F. mosseae colonized plants) than those of non-mycorrhizal plants.…”

Mycorrhizal Symbiotic Efficiency on C3 and C4 Plants under Salinity Stress – A Meta-Analysis

“…In a saline environment, root growth is delayed with the effect of salt on cell toxicity and due to low soil water potential ( Psarras et al, 2008 ). An increase in salt concentrations proportionately increases the mycorrhizal response in Sesbania and Gmelina plants ( Giri and Mukerji, 2004 ; Dudhane et al, 2011 ). We also observed salinity-level variations in the mycorrhizal symbiosis of C 3 and C 4 plants.…”

Functional Diversity of Mycorrhizal Fungi Has Differential Effects on Salinity Tolerance of <i>Acacia seyal</i> (Del.) Seedlings

“…This can restrain AMF spore germination, colonization capacity, and hyphal development [13]. However, many researchers have reported that AMF can enhance the ability of plants to cope with salinity [14]- [20], leading to improved growth and productivity under saline conditions [21] [22] [15] [17]. The benefits of symbiosis under saline conditions include increased nutrient uptake compared with plants without mycorrhizal associations, accumulation of compounds regulating osmotic adjustment in the roots, and increase in photosynthesis and water use efficiency [14] [23].…”