Piriformospora indica mutualistic effect on Cynara scolymus (L.) under water and saline stress

Backgrounds and Drought which is caused by the climate pattern change, can also lead to tough situations of salinity. Plants, however, may respond to the stressors by morphological and physiological changes within the related organs. Recently, a new discovered endophyte, Piriformospora indica, which is able to colonize onto the roots` cortex of many diverse plants can also be cultured in an axenic media, free from any specific host. This seems to be a sustainable solution for crop production in such climates. Thus, P. indica which can also exacerbate plants` tolerance during abiotic stress, was taken for further two separated saline and water deficiency experiments. In this survey, we tend to show whether artichokes` roots (Cynara scolymus) are the endophyte host. Next, what changes can be conveyed in either saline or water deficiency trials.
Floating in spore suspension, rootlets were stained by Vierheilig method to ensure colonization in contaminated plants. Then, under different stress conditions, we quantified artichoke growth and yield. The experiment was conducted at the University of Agricultural Science and natural resources of Pardis-Gorgan. Water deficiency was induced at three levels according to regulation of water day interval; each 3, 6 and 12 days which were defined as control, mild and severe stress, respectively. Salinity, likewise, was induced by NaCl solutions in 0.7, 6 and 12 ds/m.
The results indicated that firstly artichoke accepted P.indica as a symbiotic agent, and secondly contaminated plants functioned far better rather than their controls in stress. As there was a considerable reduction in many yield components such as leaf length, RWC, root length and root volume in both saline and drought trials while plants went through more severity of 6 days to 12 days of water day interval or 6 ds/m to 12 ds/m; yet, these changes did not happen considerably for contaminated plants in the same period or salinity. Although the fungus performance was marginally considerable in saline stress, still there were significant morphological alterations; length in leaves and roots and the root volume were also changed (P
In general, many essential changes would be occurred as plants challenge for adaptation. Mutualism might largely expand plants compatibility against stressors. Therefore, proportionally, P.indica was able to alleviate plants malfunctioning in both experiments.