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Mitigation of Drought Stress by Piriformospora indica in Solanum melongena L. cultivars

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Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate the amelioration of drought stress in Solanum melongena L. cultivars (Arka Shirish and F1 hybrid) upon Piriformospora indica application under greenhouse conditions. Two cycles of drought stress were induced to both cultivars of S. melongena L. Piriformospora indica-colonized roots performed better as compared to uninoculated plants. An increase in root length (1.5-fold), shoot length (≅ 1.5-fold) and biomass (two fold) was observed with  Piriformospora indica treated plants over untreated plants under drought stress. The percent colonization was found to be ≅ 75%, and the accumulation of proline was found to be the highest in the Piriformospora indica treated S. melongena L. plants. An increase in total chlorophyll, relative water content, guaiacol peroxidase activity and catalase activity was observed in P. indica-inoculated roots as compared to uninoculated roots. P. indica-colonized S. melongena L. plants were able to tolerate two cycles of drought stress.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Ajit Varma for providing the Piriformospora indica culture. They also thank the staff at SAIF, Kochi, for their help rendered during scanning electron microscopy analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Incubation, Innovation, Research and Consultancy, Jyothy Institute of Technology Tataguni, Off Kanakapura Road, Bangalore, 560082, India

    S. Swetha

  2. Department of Microbiology, School of Sciences, Jain University, 9th Main, Jayanagar 3rd Block, Bangalore, India

    T. Padmavathi

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  1. S. Swetha
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Correspondence to S. Swetha.

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Significance Statement Piriformospora indica-colonized Solanum melongena L. plants were able to tolerate two cycles of drought stress by improving water absorption and nutrient uptake, accumulation of high proline content and conferring protection against ROS.

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Swetha, S., Padmavathi, T. Mitigation of Drought Stress by Piriformospora indica in Solanum melongena L. cultivars. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. 90, 585–593 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-019-01128-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-019-01128-3

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