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In situ seed baiting to isolate germination-enhancing fungi for an epiphytic orchid, Dendrobium aphyllum (Orchidaceae)

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Abstract

Orchid conservation efforts, using seeds and species-specific fungi that support seed germination, require the isolation, identification, and germination enhancement testing of symbiotic fungi. However, few studies have focused on developing such techniques for the epiphytes that constitute the majority of orchids. In this study, conducted in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan, China, we used seeds of Dendrobium aphyllum, a locally endangered and medicinally valuable epiphytic orchid, to attract germination promoting fungi. Of the two fungi isolated from seed baiting, Tulasnella spp. and Trichoderma spp., Tulasnella, enhanced seed germination by 13.6 %, protocorm formation by 85.7 %, and seedling development by 45.2 % (all P < 0.0001). Epulorhiza, another seed germination promoting fungi isolated from Cymbidium mannii, also enhanced seed germination (6.5 %; P < 0.05) and protocorm formation (20.3 %; P < 0.0001), but Trichoderma suppressed seed germination by 26.4 % (P < 0.0001). Tulasnella was the only treatment that produced seedlings. Light increased seed imbibition, protocorm formation, and two-leaved seed development of Tulasnella inoculated seeds (P < 0.0001). Because the germination stage success was not dependent on fungi, we recommend that Tulasnella be introduced for facilitating D. aphyllum seed germination at the protocorm formation stage and that light be provided for increasing germination as well as further seedling development. Our findings suggest that in situ seed baiting can be used to isolate seed germination-enhancing fungi for the development of seedling production for conservation and reintroduction efforts of epiphytic orchids such as D. aphyllum.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31170358) to JYG and manuscript writing was supported by China National Post Doctoral Fund 2013 to UMG and Chinese Academy of Science CAS 135 program (XTBG-T01). We thank Richard T. Corlett and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on a previous version of the manuscript. We are also grateful to Wenliu Zhang, Xuli Fan, Hua Lin, Qiang Liu for field and laboratory assistance.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China

    Xiao-Meng Zi, Chun-Ling Sheng, Uromi Manage Goodale & Jiang-Yun Gao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiao-Meng Zi & Chun-Ling Sheng

  3. Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China

    Shi-Cheng Shao & Jiang-Yun Gao

  4. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing, 100009, China

    Chun-Ling Sheng

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  1. Xiao-Meng Zi
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Xiao-Meng Zi and Chun-Ling Sheng contributed equally to this work.

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Zi, XM., Sheng, CL., Goodale, U.M. et al. In situ seed baiting to isolate germination-enhancing fungi for an epiphytic orchid, Dendrobium aphyllum (Orchidaceae). Mycorrhiza 24, 487–499 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-014-0565-8

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