Abstract

Water scarcity is one of the main consequences of changing climate which adversely affects the plant growth and productivity. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of plant growth promoting fungi (PGPF), Trichoderma harzianum strain-35 (T-35) and newly discovered Fusarium pallidoroseum strain-10 (FP-10) on total biomass production and activities of the stress related enzymes [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD)] in Swarna and Swarna sub-1 genotypes of rice under drought stress. PGPFs inoculated plants showed enhance shoot and root dry weight as compared to uninoculated plants under water stress. Quantitative analyses of antioxidant enzymes indicated that plants inoculated with PGPFs showed higher activity of SOD, CAT and POD enzymes as compared to uninoculated plants under severe drought condition (41.23% pot moisture content). Higher biomass and greater induction of antioxidant enzymes in plants may be the mechanism through which these PGPFs help plants to alleviate the consequences of drought stress and maintenance of plant homeostasis under severe drought.

Key words: Trichoderma harzianum, Fusarium pallidoroseum, rice, drought stress, antioxidant.