Effect of water stress and mycorrhizal fungi Rhizophagus intraradices and Funneliformis mosseae on uptake of some nutrients and growth properties in lentils

water deficiency is one of the most limiting factors of agricultural production in arid and semiarid areas. In recent years beneficial microorganisms were evaluated as one of the techniquesto reduce the effects of drought stress and increase sustainable agricultural production. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the effect of mycorrhizal fungi on growth and uptake of some elements on lentil under drought stress conditions.
Experiment was performed as factorial test in a completely randomized design including two factors, drought stress at four levels (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% PAW) and mycorrhizal fungi at four levels (Rhizophagus intraradices and Funneliformis mosseae, a mixture of two fungal species, and control), in growth chambers at Department of Soil Science and Engineering, Tehran University, 2014. After growth period, the effect of different treatments on growth traits such as number of nodules, shoot and root dry weights, number of sheaths, chlorophyll index, root colonization, plant height and content of elements of N, P, K, Fe, and Zn in the shoot were measured and recorded. Analysis of variance and mean comparison of data were performed with SAS software and Duncan’s test (pFindings: The results showed that all measured plant traits due to the effect of water stress decreased, so that dry matter of shoot, root dry weight, number of sheaths, leaf chlorophyll index, root colonization and plant height at the highest level of stress S1 than the control NS, respectively 49.99, 41.12, 11.2, 24.4, 26.06, 28.09 and 22.15 percent reduced. The interaction of water stress and mycorrhizal fungi on all measured traits except for plant height, root dry weight, chlorophyll index, zinc, phosphorus and potassium was significant (p Water stress had a negative impact on all indicators of growth, but the greatest reduction in root and shoot dry weight was seen. The use of mycorrhizal fungi had a significant effect on growth traits and nutrient uptake. The use of mycorrhizal fungi R. intraradices and F. mosseae reduced the negative effects of water stress and led to the increase of growth and more absorption of elements.
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