Inoculation of Barley (Hordeum vulgare) with the Endophyte Epichloë bromicola Affects Plant Growth, and the Microbial Community in Roots and Rhizosphere Soil

Abstract

Hordeum vulgare is an important source of feed and forage for livestock, and of food and drink for humans, but its utilization rate is lower than that of other cereal crops, thus it is crucial to improve barley agronomic traits and production. Epichloë bromicola is an endophyte that was isolated from wild barley (Hordeum brevisubulatum). Previous studies have found that Epichloë can indirectly influence the growth of host plants by affecting soil chemical characteristics, the microbial community, and by producing a range of secondary metabolites. However, underlying effects of Epichloë on the abundance and diversity of soil and root microbes have not been well-studied. In addition, there is a question regarding the relationship between endophyte-produced alkaloids and effects on the root and rhizosphere microbial communities. The objective of this study was to investigate changes in agronomic traits, nutritional properties, peramine, soil chemical and microbial community in the fourth generation of new barley symbionts EI (E. bromicola-infection) and EF (E. bromicola-free) in LQ+4 and LZ+4. We understand the plant height and biomass of EI in LZ+4 were significantly higher than those of EF. The HPLC analysis showed that the peramine content of EI in LQ+4 and LZ+4 was 0.085 and 0.1 mg/g, respectively. We compared the bacterial and fungal communities by analyzing the 16s rRNA (for bacteria) and ITS rDNA regions (for fungi). Our data revealed that the composition of fungal communities in rhizosphere soil of LZ+4 EI are higher than EF. In addition, the diversity and richness of fungal communities in root and rhizosphere soil of LQ+4 EI and LZ+4 EI are significantly higher than EF. Rhizosphere soil microbial community composition was higher than that in roots in LQ+4 and LZ+4. Peramine was significantly and positively correlated with the richness of the soil fungal community. Moreover, the principal component analysis (PCoA) results indicated that E. bromicola significantly influenced the community composition of root and rhizosphere soil microbes in both LQ+4 and LZ+4. Our results illustrate that E. bromicola can influence barley growth, peramine production and microbial communities associated with barley.

Diversity, chemical constituents and biological activities of endophytic fungi from Alisma orientale (Sam.) Juzep.

“…However, studies have shown that dominant endophytic fungi can have huge ecological consequences, and some studies have shown that endophytic fungi can affect the expression of host genes and thus affect plants ( Harrison et al, 2021 ). In addition, the results of Liu et al (2022) showed that the endophytic fungus Epichloë bromicola can affect the growth of host plants and has a significant effect on the plant height of Hordeum vulgare . Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the formation of round AOJs and triangular AOJs may be due to the existence of some endophytic fungi that affect the gene expression or growth of AOJs, and these endophytes are different in AOJ plants with two traits, which are reflected in the significant difference in ASVs and the difference in dominant genera.…”

Determination of Yield Parameters of Barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i> L.) Inoculated with Phosphorous-Solubilizing and Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria

“…Bacterial inoculation results in profound increment of root surface area by eightfold as compared to uninoculated in barley [24]. Similarly, N-fixing rhizobacteria had a positive effect on above-ground biomass of maize and barley [44,27,45]. In both years, N and P treatments increased grain N content, physiological maturity N content, straw yield; sole N applications had the highest grain and plant N contents.…”

Effect of Leafy Nutrition Humic Acid and Gibberellic Acid on Growth and Productivity of Barley

“…Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is from the family Poaceae (Graminae); After wheat, maize, and rice, it is the fourth most common food cereal in the world [1,2]. It provides animals to feed, as well as human food and drink [3,4]. Barley-produced food is a good source of many nutrients, including protein with its high nutritional value, rich in protein 9.9 g, fibers, selenium, minerals, and B-vitamins.…”