I need a comparison between Endomycorrhiza and Piriformospora indica in some crop production.
Dear Anisa
Piriformospora indica is a cultivable free-living filamentous basidiomycetous fungus that promotes plant growth and development and increases quantitative and qualitative yield. The fungus first introduced by Mr. Prof. Dr. Varma is now under further research in many laboratories in India, Iran, and Germany. Its amenability to cultivations brings extended possibilities for deep physiological, biochemical, ... research and genetic engineering. The fungus has the ability to colonize different plant roots including wooden and herbaceous, dicotyledonous or monocotyledonous plants, even those known to form no mycorrhizal symbioses such as sugar beet. Interestingly, the fungus can be applied together with Trichoderma fungi- plant growth promoting biological control agents that can be applied against plant pathogenic fungi, oomycetes, and even insect pests, and induce plant systemic resistance against even viruses and stresses- and can be used in hardening of micropropagated plantlets. Taxonomically, AM (formerly VAM) fungi belong to Glomeromycota- sister group of Basidiomycota and Ascomycota. AM fungi produce chlamydospores and reproduce asexually and produce intracellular arbuscules (dendroid analogies of haustoria) and vesicles ( specialized cells as reservoirs of lipids) formed inside root cells or out of root. Piriformospora indica genus et sp. nov., a new root-colonizing fungus is the article in Mycologia (1995) 90 (5): 896-903, the same You need to refer.
AM fungi are not cultivable and have restricted host plants. They can infect root system of a few species and a plant root may contain a few species of AM fungi. Working with these obligate symbionts needs their isolation by washing soil samples on a set of sieves including usual sieves in soil Science followed with ones of tiny meshes, and the preservation on these fungi on roots of maize plants in pots. Working with Piriformospora You bypass these difficulties. It is easily cultivated on complete media, and for symbiotic studies You may need Aspergillus medium with A and B solutions. However, We grew it on wheat seed and used them for the inoculation of pots, and we were able to get the result. I think Piriformospora can give more positive results than AM fungi because it is not as sensitive as AM fungi in the primitive stages of symbiotic relationship establishment. This is easily conceivable as the fungus can grow saprophytically and apparently this does not impose hazardous effect on its usefulness as a plant growth promoting (PGP) fungus (based on our recent pot test). Of course, we did not microscopy but we got positive results compared with our control plants. Piriformospora indica increased tap root fresh and dry weight and increased root sugar content of nonmycorrhizal sugar beet plant. Its PGP effect was higher than both Trichoderma asperelloides biocontrol isolates.
Dear Anisa, if You worked on Piriformospora indica, would You please let me know.
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