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Table 3 Effect of salt stress on the growth of cucumber plants with or without endophyte inoculation

From: Endophytic fungal association via gibberellins and indole acetic acid can improve plant growth under abiotic stress: an example of Paecilomyces formosus LHL10

Growth attributes/salt stress

0 mM

60 mM

120 mM

 

Control

P. formosus

Control

P. formosus

Control

P. formosus

Chlorophyll content (SPAD)

27.3 ± 0.18b

29.1 ± 0.12a

28.0 ± 0.24b

36.5 ± 0.25a

24.3 ± 0.26b

37.1 ± 0.14a

Shoot fresh weight (g)

14.9 ± 0.33b

17.4 ± 0.15a

16.3 ± 0.29b

17.3 ± 0.16a

13.4 ± 0.35b

15.0 ± 0.41a

Shoot dry weight (g)

2.7 ± 0.07b

3.1 ± 0.08a

1.3 ± 0.01b

1.7 ± 0.02a

1.1 ± 0.01b

1.5 ± 0.09a

Leaf area (cm2)

58.6 ± 0.61b

62.1 ± 0.43a

48.9 ± 0.42b

52.4 ± 0.66a

40.9 ± 0.67b

43.1 ± 0.12a

Photosynthesis rate (μmolm-2s-1)

1.4 ± 0.05b

1.7 ± 0.02a

1.1 ± 0.03b

1.5 ± 0.04a

1.0 ± 0.06b

1.2 ± 0.03a

Stomatal conductance (molm-2s-1)

1.5 ± 0.02b

2.9 ± 0.01a

1.7 ± 0.06b

2.0 ± 0.03a

2.1 ± 0.02b

2.5 ± 0.08a

Transpiration rate (mMm-2s-1)

0.07 ± 0.01b

0.12 ± 0.01a

0.06 ± 0.01b

0.16 ± 0.01a

0.02 ± 0.01b

0.18 ± 0.01a

  1. 0 mM means only distilled water applied plants while 60 and 120 mM is the NaCl concentrations applied to the cucumber plants. SPAD = Soil plant analysis development. In each row, different letter indicates significant (P < 0.05) differences between P. formosus inoculated plants with non-inoculated control plant as evaluated by DMRT. Values in the table refer to mean ± SD (n = 18).