基金项目:国家自然科学基金(32071753); 国家重点研发计划(2017YFD0601304); 福建农林大学学科交叉融合推动菌草科学及产业高质量发展项目(XKJC-712021030)
通信作者:henrihong@163.com
Objective: Phosphorus is one of the important elements in plants, where it regulates photosynthesis by participating various physiological process. The goals of this work are to clarify the effect of endophytic fungi on the chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics of Acacia confusa Merr. under low-phosphorus conditions, and to explore the possibility of using endophytic fungi to improve the photosynthetic characteristics of A. confusa Merr..
Methods: Four strains of powerful endophytic fungi F (Filobasidium sp.), I (Penicillium sp.), E (Penicillium sp.), N (Penicillium sp.) and FI mixed bacteria (1:1) were isolated and purified from A. confusa Merr. and added to four phosphorus levels (0, 10, 20, 40 mg/kg) soil culture of A. confusa Merr. seedlings in pots. The indexes used in this study included chlorophyll content, photosynthetic system Ⅱ (PSⅡ) activity (Fv/Fo), and PSⅡ maximum light energy conversion efficiency (Fv/Fm).
Results: Under an appropriate amount of phosphorus supply (40 mg/kg), the chlorophyll content of the control group (non-inoculated) was overall lower than that of each strain treatment group, and the Fv/Fo and Fv/Fm of the strain I and FI treatment groups was slightly higher than the control group; under mild phosphorus stress (20 mg/kg), the chlorophyll content of the control group was lower than that of stain E and FI treatment groups, while the Fv/Fo and Fv/Fm were not significantly different among different treatment groups; under severe phosphorus stress (10 mg/kg), the chlorophyll contents of strains F, E, and N treatment groups were overall higher. For strain E and N treatment groups, the Fv/Fo and Fv/Fm were higher than those of the control group; under the treatment group without phosphorus (0 mg/kg), the chlorophyll contents of the strain FI and I treatment groups were higher at the middle and late stage of stress, and the Fv/Fo and Fv/Fm of the strain I treatment group were higher than those of the control group. Compared with the Fv/Fo of the seedlings at 30 d, 70 d, and 90 d, the Fv/Fo of the seedlings at 50 d in each group was significantly higher (P<0.05).
Conclusion: In this study, we used the endophytic fungi back inoculated to different low-phosphorus treated A. confusa Merr. seedlings, and analyzed the chlorophyll content and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of the endophytic fungi and Acacia confusa Merr. symbionts to clarify the effect of the dominant endophytic fungi on the chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics of Acacia confusa Merr. under low phosphorus stress. Overall, our results showed that the strain F and FI had the best promotion effect on the chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics of A. confusa Merr. under low-phosphorus conditions. Our observations provide an important reference for improving the growth and photosynthetic characteristics of A. confusa Merr. coastal protection forests. However, only from the perspective of the promotion of photosynthetic characteristics of A. confusa Merr. by the dominant endophytic fungi, their growth could not be systematically improved in low-phosphorus habitats in southern China. Therefore, further studies are encouraged to focus on the promotion mechanism of endophytic fungi on inter-root acidity, organic acid secretion, phosphatase release and soil phosphorus activation of Acacia confusa Merr..