Effects of jasmonic acid and arbuscular mycorrhiza on growth and ecophysiological parameters of pistachio seedlings under drought stress

Document Type : Full Paper

Authors

, Associate Professors, of Faculty of Horticulture, University of Vali-Asr Rafsanjan

Abstract

Drought is the most common environmental stresses that affects plant growth. To study the combined effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus intratadices) and Jasmonic acid on growth and ecophysiologycal characteristics of pistachio seedlings cv. Qazvini under drought stress, a greenhouse experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. Experimental factors were including mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal, spraying of Jasmonic acid (0, 50 and 100 µM) and drought stress (irrigation intervals of 1, 3, 6 and 10 days), in the weighting method according to field capacity. Results showed that after 70 days of drought stress, growth parameters of seedlings significantly decreased with increasing drought. Ecophysiological characteristics of pistachio seedlings such as photosynthetic pigments content, Fv/Fm and the performance index (PI) was also affected by drought. Mycorrhizal plants were less affected by stress and mycorrhizal symbiosis led to a significant improvement of parameters compared with control. Jasmonic acid application reduced stem height, leaf dry weight, chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll content and increased root system volume.
 

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