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VOL. 5, ISSUE 3 (2020)
Analysis of thermal and drought tolerance conferred by Endophytes in tomato
Authors
Anum Intisar, Shahbaz Talib Sahi, Safdar Ali, Amer Habib, Muhammad Ahmad Zeshan, Waqas Ashraf, Syed Waseem Hassan, Muhammad Arshad Javed, Awais Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Usman Ghani
Abstract
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) belongs to Solanaceae family. It is a valuable source of several minerals and vitamins. The world food security is highly disturbed by the unpredictable drought and heat stresses which will upsurge in frequency and brutality in the near future leading to a probable decline in global food production. Improvement in drought tolerant varieties through plant breeding is a promising and effective approach but it is an expensive and also a long drawn procedure. Endophytic fungi, residing in the root and shoot tissues can play pivotal role in this regard. Hence the present study was carried out to evaluate the potential of fungal endophytes in tomato crop against thermal and drought stress. The experiment was executed in research area of Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad during 2014-2015. Eight varieties of tomato were sown under Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in pots and later were transplanted to field. Endophytic fungus was isolated from healthy leaves, stems and roots of Acacia niloticaand Convulvulusarvensisand identified on the basis of morphological characters of the fungal culture and spores. Inoculation was done by immersing the tomato seedlings in fungal suspension of known concentration. Drought stress was given to the plants by delaying the irrigation and heat stress was accomplished by the bright sunshine. The endophytic fungi was re-isolated and identified from the inoculated plants to confirm the colonization of the fungus in the plant tissues. Data regarding shoot length, leaf size, fruit size and weight was collected and subjected to analysis of variance and statistical difference between mean values or percentages was determined by the Student’s t-test.
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Pages:298-308
How to cite this article:
Anum Intisar, Shahbaz Talib Sahi, Safdar Ali, Amer Habib, Muhammad Ahmad Zeshan, Waqas Ashraf, Syed Waseem Hassan, Muhammad Arshad Javed, Awais Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Usman Ghani "Analysis of thermal and drought tolerance conferred by Endophytes in tomato". International Journal of Botany Studies, Vol 5, Issue 3, 2020, Pages 298-308
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