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Biology and Biotechnology of Environmental Stress Tolerance in Plants, Volume 3

3.6.2 AMF AND BIOTIC STRESS MANAGEMENT IN PLANTS

Symbiotic noninfectious microorganisms living in the plant root and

rhizosphere is known to have a potential role in managing different plant

pathogens. The role of AMF in reducing the damage caused by the pathogen

is well-studied by different researchers. AMF-colonized plant successfully

inhibited several pathogens in field conditions, and in some diseased plant

growth remains unaffected. Charcoal root rot disease of Glycine max causes

by the pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina resulting huge economic loss

every year, can be controlled by applying AM inoculation (Spagnoletti et al.,

2020). In plant mycorrhizal colonization controls disease progression and

disease severity by providing a resistance to plant known as mycorrhizal­

induced resistance (MIR). MIR is similar to systemic acquired resistance

that gives systemic protection from pathogen attacks (Nguvo & Gao, 2019).

AMF induced resistance in plant by different mechanisms including changing

root morphology and structures, producing antioxidant enzymes, improving

nutrients status in the host plant, enhancing photosynthesis, and changing

microbial diversity in the mycorrhizosphere (Cameron et al., 2013). Coloni­

zation of tomato plant root by Funneliformis mosseae improved resistance

against two nematode pathogen Pratylenchus penetrans and Meloidogyne

incognita. Besides this, inoculation of F. mosseae also inhibits two fungal

pathogen Fusarium oxysporum and Alternaria solani in tomato plant (Vos et

al., 2012). Several reports also revealed that besides fungal and nematodes,

AMF fungi can control several herbivorous insects and invasive plants like

Striga (Diagne et al., 2020).

3.7 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

From the above discussion, it is evident that adverse environmental condition

and rapid climate change affects plants growth and development by causing

several biochemical, physical, and physiological changes. Not only the

abiotic factors, biotic factors like presence of disease are also hampered plant

growth. Many soil residing microorganisms like endophytes, rhizobacteria,

and mycorrhizal fungi help to minimize the negative impacts of these stresses.

Though many researchers are well described the role of these microorganism

individually but there is also presence of evidence that application of combi­

nation of these microbes can improve stress tolerance in plant even better.

Another important aspect of the usefulness of these microbes that we need