Endophytic Fungi Assures Tropical Forage Grass Growth by Water Stress Tolerances

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of inoculation of the endophytic fungi Paraconiothyrium estuarinum (CML 3695, CML 3696, CML 3699) and Paraconiothyrium cyclothyrioides (CML 3697, CML 3698) on agronomic characteristics of two forage species, Brachiaria brizantha (A. Rich) Stapf. cv. Marandu and Megathyrsus maximus Jacq. cv. BRS Mombaça, under different available water capacities. The treatments simulated a long drought period (LDH) equivalent to 10% of the available water capacity (AWC) and simulated 7 (7 DH) and 14 days of drought (14 DH) without water supply. The grasses were evaluated for length and dry weight of shoots and roots. All treatments reached humidity below the permanent wilting point (PWP) and the highest variation in soil moisture was observed at 14 DH, for both grass species. The endophytic fungi promoted an average 15% increase in shoot length (SL) for B. brizantha and an increase of 34% for SL, 266% for Dry Shoot Mass (SDM), and 340% for Dry Root Mass (RDM) for M. maximus treated with P. estuarinum (CML 3699) at 7 DH. Paraconiothyrium estuarinum (CML 3699) guaranteed the highest tolerance to water deficit and sustainable growth performance to both tested grasses.PMID:34636936 | DOI:10.1007/s00284-021-02672-w

Source: Current Microbiology - October 12, 2021 Category: Microbiology Authors: Raphael Passaglia Azevedo Nat álie Martins Alves Ingrid Ara újo Costa Mariany Isabela Soares Domingues Nat ália de Aguiar Bandória Ulisses Jos é de Figueiredo Flavio Henrique Vasconcelos de Medeiros Bruno Montoani Silva Patr ícia Gomes Cardoso Source Type: research