Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi improve the growth and performance in the seedlings of Leymus chinensis under alkali and drought stresses

PeerJ

article

Yingnan Wang¹  Jixiang Lin²  Fan Yang²  Shuang Tao²  Xiufeng Yan³  Zhiqiang Zhou¹  Yuhong Zhang¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University;College of Landscape Architecture, Northeast Forest University;Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Water Environment and Marine Biological Resources Protection, College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University

关键词: Alkali stress;    Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi;    Drought stress;    Leymus chinensis;    Interactive effect;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.12890

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Alkali and drought stresses are increasing severe environmental problems throughout the world, especially in the Songnen grassland of northern China. Leymus chinensis is the dominant grass species in the Songnen grassland of northern China and the most promising species for grassland restoration. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can colonize 80% of vascular plants, which can enhance the growth of host plants and provide extrinsic protection against abiotic stresses. However, little is known about the interaction effect of alkali and drought stresses on plant-AM symbionts. Here, seedlings of Leymus chinensis inoculated with or without mycorrhizae were cultivated in soil with 0, 100 or 200 mM NaHCO3 under 0, 5 or 10% (w/v) PEG treatment, and the changes in growth, osmotic adjustment substances and ions were measured. The results showed that the interaction of alkali and drought stresses caused greater seedling growth inhibition than either single alkali or drought stress due to ion toxicity and oxidative damage. Mycorrhizae could alleviate the growth inhibition of seedlings under alkali or drought stress. The interaction of alkali and drought stresses did not affect the alleviating effect of mycorrhizae on seedling growth but improved the osmotic regulation ability and ionic balance of the seedlings. Our results clearly show different effects of the interaction of alkali and drought stresses versus a single stress (alkali or drought) on plant development and provide new insights into the positive effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on host plants under such stress conditions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY