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Above-and below-ground feedback loop of maize is jointly enhanced by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in drier soil.
Khan, Wasim; Zhu, Ying; Khan, Aziz; Zhao, Ling; Yang, Yu-Miao; Wang, Ning; Hao, Meng; Ma, Yue; Nepal, Jaya; Ullah, Fazal; Rehman, Muhammad Maqsood Ur; Abrar, Muhammad; Xiong, You-Cai.
Affiliation
  • Khan W; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Zhu Y; Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources Exploitation and Application, Institute of Biology, Gansu Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China. Electronic address: zhuying_365@126.com.
  • Khan A; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Zhao L; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Yang YM; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Wang N; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Hao M; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Ma Y; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Nepal J; Department of Soil, Water & Ecosystem Sciences, Indian River Research Center, University of Florida, Fort Pierce, FL, USA.
  • Ullah F; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Rehman MMU; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Abrar M; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
  • Xiong YC; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences/College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China. Electronic address: xiongyc@lzu.edu.cn.
Sci Total Environ ; 917: 170417, 2024 Mar 20.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38280611
ABSTRACT
Drought is a potent abiotic stressor that arrests crop growth, significantly affecting crop health and yields. The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can offer to protect plants from stressful environments through improving water, and nutrient use efficiency by strengthening plant root structure and harnessing favorable rhizosphere environments. When Acaulospora laevis (AMF) and Bacillus subtilus (PGPR) are introduced in combination, enhanced root growth and beneficial microbial colonization can mitigate drought stress. To assess this potential, a pot experiment was done with maize (Zea mays L.) to explore the effects of A. laevis and B. subtilus under different water levels (well-watered = 80 %; moderate water stress = 55 %; and severe water stress = 35 %) on maize yield, soil microbial activities, nutrients contents, root, and leaf functioning. Plants exposed to severe drought stress hampered their root and leaf functioning, and reduced grain yield compared with control plants. Combined use of AMF and PGPR increased root colonization (104.6 %-113.2 %) and microbial biomass carbon (36.38 %-40.23 %) under moderate to severe drought conditions over control. Higher root colonization was strongly linked with elevated ACC (aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) production, subsequently enhancing water use efficiency (21.62 %-12.77 %), root hydraulic conductivity (1.9 %-1.4 %) and root nutrient uptake under moderate to severe drought conditions. Enhanced nutrient uptake further promoted leaf photosynthetic rate by 27.3 %-29.8 % under moderate and severe drought stress. Improving leaf and root physiological functioning enhanced maize grain yield under stressful environments. Furthermore, co-inoculation with AMF-PGPR reduced cellular damage by lowering oxidative enzyme levels and increasing antioxidative enzyme activities, improving plant performance and grain yield under stressful environments. Conclusively, the synergistic interaction of AMF with PGPR ensured plant stress tolerance by reducing cellular injury, facilitating root-leaf functioning, enhancing nutrient-water-use-efficiencies, and increasing yield under drought stress.
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Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Mycorrhizae Language: En Journal: Sci Total Environ Year: 2024 Document type: Article Affiliation country:

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Mycorrhizae Language: En Journal: Sci Total Environ Year: 2024 Document type: Article Affiliation country: