@Article{phyton.2020.08795,
AUTHOR = {Mona H. Soliman, Taghreed S. Alnusaire, Nessreen F. Abdelbaky, Aisha A. M. Alayafi, Mirza Hasanuzzaman, Mohamed M. Rowezak, Mohamed El-Esawi, Amr Elkelish},
TITLE = {<i>Trichoderma</i>-Induced Improvement in Growth, Photosynthetic Pigments, Proline, and Glutathione Levels in <i>Cucurbita pepo</i> Seedlings under Salt Stress},
JOURNAL = {Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany},
VOLUME = {89},
YEAR = {2020},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {473--486},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/phyton/v89n3/39402},
ISSN = {1851-5657},
ABSTRACT = {Salt stress is one of the major abiotic stress in plants. However,
traditional approaches are not always efficient in conferring salt tolerance. Experiments were conducted to understand the role of <i>Trichoderma</i> spp. (<i>T. harzianum</i>
and <i>T. viride</i>) in growth, chlorophyll (Chl) synthesis, and proline accumulation of
<i>C. pepo</i> exposed to salinity stress. There were three salt stress (50, 100, and
150 mM NaCl) lavels and three different <i>Trichoderma</i> inoculation viz. <i>T. harzianum</i>, <i>T. viride</i>, and <i>T. harzianum</i> + <i>T. viride</i>. Salt stress significantly declined the
growth in terms of the shoot and root lengths; however, it was improved by the
inoculation of <i>Trichoderma</i> spp. <i>C. pepo</i> inoculated with <i>Trichoderma</i> exhibited
increased synthesis of pigments like chl <i>a</i>, chl <i>b</i>, carotenoids, and anthocyanins
under normal conditions. It was interesting to observe that such positive effects
were maintained under salt-stressed conditions, as reflected by the amelioration
of the salinity-mediated decline in growth, physiology and antioxidant defense.
The inoculation of <i>Trichoderma</i> spp. enhanced the synthesis of proline, glutathione, proteins and increased the relative water content. In addition, <i>Trichoderma</i>
inoculation increased membrane stability and reduced the generation of hydrogen peroxide. Therefore, <i>Trichoderma</i> spp. can be exploited either individually
or in combination to enhance the growth and physiology of <i>C. pepo</i> under saline
conditions.},
DOI = {10.32604/phyton.2020.08795}
}