The fungal endophyte Metarhizium anisopliae (MetA1) coordinates salt tolerance mechanisms of rice to enhance growth and yield.

The implementation of salt stress mitigation strategies aided by microorganisms has the potential to improve crop growth and yield. The endophytic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae shows the ability to enhance plant growth and mitigate diverse forms of abiotic stress. We examined the functions of M. anisopliae isolate MetA1 (MA) in promoting salinity resistance by investigating several morphological, physiological, biochemical, and yield features in rice plants. In vitro evaluation demonstrated that rice seeds primed with MA enhanced the growth features of rice plants exposed to 4, 8, and 12 dS/m of salinity for 15 days in an agar medium. A pot experiment was carried out to evaluate the growth and development of MA-primed rice seeds after exposing them to similar levels of salinity. Results indicated MA priming in rice improved shoot and root biomass, photosynthetic pigment contents, leaf succulence, and leaf relative water content. It also significantly decreased Na

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Shah Mohammad Naimul Islam reports administrative support was provided by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University. Shah Mohammad Naimul Islam reports a relationship with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University that includes: employment. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.