Effect of Trichoderma virens and Silicon Application on Some Properties of Wheat under Saline Condition

Salinity stress is recognized as an important constraint that limits agricultural production especially in arid and semi-arid regions around the world. Application of microorganisms such as Trichoderma isolates and silicon is an effective and easily adaptive strategy to reduce the environmental stresses like salinity. In order to evaluate silicon effect and Trichoderma virens inoculation on growth and some properties of wheat grown under saline condition a factorial experiment with complete randomized design was arranged. The factors included two levels of fungus (with and without inoculation), two levels of Si (0 and 1.5 mM), as Na2SiO3, and three levels of salt (0, 18 and 31 Meq kg-1 salt supplied as NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 with 3:2:1 proportion, equivalent to soil saturated electrical conductivity (ECe) amounts of (3.2-3.4), (6.9-7.2) and (9.5-9.9) dS m-1, respectively). The results showed a negative effect of salt stress on wheat growth. Both 18 and 31 Meq kg-1 of the added salts caused significant reductions (p