The co-application of Piriformospora indica and vermicompost enhances the drought resistance of apple

IF 4.6 2区农林科学 Q1 HORTICULTURE

Scientia Horticulturae Pub Date : 2026-09-01 Epub Date: 2026-09-05 DOI:10.1016/j.scienta.2026.115146

Qi Zhao, Jianghao Chai, Huizhen Wang, Suixia Lang, Qian Li, Meichun Chen, Chunzhen Cheng, Lei Li

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Climate change has increased drought frequency in Loess Plateau apple-producing regions. Vermicompost (Vc) and Piriformospora indica (Pi) have been reported to improve plant drought resistance. However, the effects of their combined application on apple growth, soil environment and soil microbial community under drought remains unexplored. Here, we investigated these effects through a 90 days pot experiment with four treatments (control, Vc, Pi, Pi+Vc) under well-watered (WW) and drought stress (DS). The results indicated DS inhibited plant growth and nutrient uptake, and also increased the levels of H₂O₂ and MDA. However, Pi+Vc treatment significantly increased relative growth rate (RGR), and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities and nutrient absorption under DS, but did not significantly affect biomass accumulation. Vc and Pi+Vc improved soil nutrients and enzyme activities under both WW and DS, whereas Pi alone showed no significant benefit. Although the treatments differentially affected bacterial and fungal diversity, the co-application of Pi and Vc enhanced microbial diversity under DS. Individual or combined Pi and Vc altered the structure and composition of microbial communities, and increased microbial co-occurrence network modularity. PLS-SEM analysis further demonstrated that the co-application of Pi and Vc promote the plant growth were closely related to bacterial community restructuring under DS. Collectively, this study suggests that combined Pi and Vc application hold potential for improving apple seedling drought tolerance, providing a foundation for future field-based validation on the Loess Plateau.

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梨孢菌与蚯蚓堆肥配施可提高苹果抗旱性

气候变化增加了黄土高原苹果产区的干旱频率。蚯蚓堆肥（Vc）和Piriformospora indica （Pi）有提高植物抗旱性的报道。然而，干旱条件下配施对苹果生长、土壤环境和土壤微生物群落的影响尚不清楚。本研究通过90 d盆栽试验，在丰水胁迫（WW）和干旱胁迫（DS）条件下，采用对照、Vc、Pi、Pi+Vc 4种处理，研究了这些效应。结果表明，DS抑制了植株生长和养分吸收，提高了H2O2和MDA水平。而Pi+Vc处理显著提高了DS下玉米的相对生长率（RGR），增强了抗氧化酶活性和养分吸收，但对生物量积累影响不显著。Vc和Pi+Vc对WW和DS处理下土壤养分和酶活性均有改善作用，而单独添加Pi对土壤养分和酶活性无显著影响。虽然不同处理对细菌和真菌多样性的影响不同，但Pi和Vc的共同施用增强了DS下微生物多样性。单独或联合使用Pi和Vc改变了微生物群落的结构和组成，增加了微生物共生网络的模块化。PLS-SEM分析进一步表明，Pi和Vc共同施用对植物生长的促进作用与DS条件下细菌群落重构密切相关。综上所述，本研究表明Pi和Vc复合施用具有提高苹果幼苗抗旱性的潜力，为今后在黄土高原的田间验证奠定了基础。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Scientia Horticulturae 农林科学-园艺

CiteScore

8.60

自引率

4.70%

发文量

796

审稿时长

47 days

期刊介绍： Scientia Horticulturae is an international journal publishing research related to horticultural crops. Articles in the journal deal with open or protected production of vegetables, fruits, edible fungi and ornamentals under temperate, subtropical and tropical conditions. Papers in related areas (biochemistry, micropropagation, soil science, plant breeding, plant physiology, phytopathology, etc.) are considered, if they contain information of direct significance to horticulture. Papers on the technical aspects of horticulture (engineering, crop processing, storage, transport etc.) are accepted for publication only if they relate directly to the living product. In the case of plantation crops, those yielding a product that may be used fresh (e.g. tropical vegetables, citrus, bananas, and other fruits) will be considered, while those papers describing the processing of the product (e.g. rubber, tobacco, and quinine) will not. The scope of the journal includes all horticultural crops but does not include speciality crops such as, medicinal crops or forestry crops, such as bamboo. Basic molecular studies without any direct application in horticulture will not be considered for this journal.