Stipa gigantea is a large perennial grass endemic to the western Iberian Peninsula and northwest Africa. Plants of this species have stems up to 2.5m, and grow in nutrient poor soils in dry areas (Fig.1). A collection of about 100 fungal strains isolated from S. gigantea roots were screened in the greenhouse (Fig.2) to identify strains capable of boosting the growth of tritordeum (X Tritordeum Ascherson et Graebner) plants. As a result of this preliminary screening, Diaporthe T6 and other strains were identified as having a beneficial effect on tritordeum, and were further tested under field conditions. Here we report on the results of two field experiments (Fig.3) showing that Diaporthe strain T6 positively affects the performance of tritordeum in terms of plant growth and grain yield.

This work was funded by project RTC-2014-3112-2 granted by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness from Spain and FEDER

International symposium on Fungal Endophytes of Grasses in Salamanca, España, 18-21 Junio 2018

Peer reviewed