Does co-inoculation of mycorrhiza and Piriformospora indica fungi enhance the efficiency of chlorophyll fluorescence and essential oil composition in peppermint under irrigation with saline water from the Caspian Sea?

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 9;16(7):e0254076. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254076. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Symbiotic associations with endophytic fungi are ecologically important for medicinal and aromatic plants. Endophytic fungi highly affect the quantity and quality of herbal products. In this study, a pot experiment was carried out in the greenhouse to investigate the interactive effects of Piriformospora indica and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AMF) inoculation on the chlorophyll fluorescence, essential oil composition, and antioxidant enzymes of peppermint under saline condition. The results showed that Fo, YNPQ, YNO, and NPQ values were obviously increased under salinity conditions, while essential oil content, chlorophyll a and b, gs, Fm, Fv, ETR, ФPSII and Fv/Fm ratio decreased by increasing salinity. In addition, salt induced the excess Na+ uptake, whereas the opposite trend was observed for P and K+. The synergistic association of P. indica and AMF caused a considerable increase in the antioxidant ability, essential oil content, Fv/Fm ratio, ФPSII, and amount of P and K+ uptake in salt-stressed plants. The main peppermint oil constituents, menthol, menthone, and 1,8-cineole increased considerably in inoculated plants. Besides, the applied endophytic fungi positively enhanced the ability of peppermint to alleviate the negative effect of the salinity stress.

MeSH terms

  • Agricultural Irrigation*
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Basidiomycota / physiology*
  • Caspian Sea
  • Chlorophyll / analysis*
  • Colony Count, Microbial
  • Droughts
  • Electrolytes / metabolism
  • Fluorescence
  • Mentha piperita / metabolism
  • Mentha piperita / microbiology*
  • Metabolome
  • Mycorrhizae / physiology*
  • Oils, Volatile / analysis*
  • Phosphorus / analysis
  • Photochemical Processes
  • Photosystem II Protein Complex / metabolism
  • Plant Leaves / metabolism
  • Potassium / analysis
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Quantum Theory
  • Salinity*
  • Salt Stress
  • Seawater / chemistry*
  • Sodium / analysis
  • Terpenes / analysis

Substances

  • Electrolytes
  • Oils, Volatile
  • Photosystem II Protein Complex
  • Terpenes
  • Chlorophyll
  • Phosphorus
  • Sodium
  • Potassium

Supplementary concepts

  • Serendipita indica

Grants and funding

There was no funding for this article. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.