Abstract
Oases are desert-farming agro-ecosystems, where date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) plays a keystone role in offsetting the effects of drought and maintaining a suitable microclimate for agriculture. At present, abundance, diversity and plant growth promotion (PGP) of date palm root-associated bacteria remain unknown. Considering the environmental pressure determined by the water scarcity in the desert environments, we hypothesized that bacteria associated with date palm roots improve plant resistance to drought. Here, the ecology of date palm root endophytes from oases in the Tunisian Sahara was studied with emphasis on their capacity to promote growth under drought. Endophytic communities segregated along a north-south gradient in correlation with geo-climatic parameters. Screening of 120 endophytes indicated that date palm roots select for bacteria with multiple PGP traits. Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissues of different species of plants, including the original Tunisian date palm cultivar, Saudi Arabian cultivars and Arabidopsis. Selected endophytes significantly increased the biomass of date palms exposed to repeated drought stress periods during a 9-month greenhouse experiment. Overall, results indicate that date palm roots shape endophytic communities that are capable to promote plant growth under drought conditions, thereby contributing an essential ecological service to the entire oasis ecosystem.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
Date palm endophyte communities segregated along a north-south gradient correlated with climate.
- Taxon
- date palm
Phoenix dactyliferae1 - Interactor
- Endophytic communitiese0symbiont
- Outcome
- Endophytic communities segregated along a north-south gradiente0
- Setting
- north-south gradiente0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Endophytic communities segregated along a north-south gradient in correlation with geo-climatic parameters”
e1“date palm root endophytes”
Claim · model-written summary
Screening 120 endophytes indicated date palm roots select bacteria with multiple growth-promotion traits.
- Taxon
- date palmPhoenix dactyliferae0
- Outcome
- date palm roots select for bacteria with multiple PGP traitse0
- Value
- 120 endophytese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Screening of 120 endophytes indicated that date palm roots select for bacteria with multiple PGP traits”
Claim · model-written summary
Endophytes rapidly colonized the original Tunisian date palm cultivar roots.
- Taxon
- date palmPhoenix dactyliferae0
- Material
- original Tunisian date palm cultivare0
- Outcome
- Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissuese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissues of different species of plants, including the original Tunisian date palm cultivar, Saudi Arabian cultivars and Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Endophytes colonized Saudi Arabian cultivar roots.
- Taxon
- date palmPhoenix dactyliferae0
- Material
- Saudi Arabian cultivarse0
- Outcome
- Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissuese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissues of different species of plants, including the original Tunisian date palm cultivar, Saudi Arabian cultivars and Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Endophytes colonized Arabidopsis roots.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis
Arabidopsise0 - Outcome
- Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissuese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissues of different species of plants, including the original Tunisian date palm cultivar, Saudi Arabian cultivars and Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Selected endophytes significantly increased date palm biomass under repeated drought in a nine-month greenhouse trial.
- Taxon
- date palmsPhoenix dactyliferae0
- Treatment
- Selected endophytese0
- Interactor
- endophytese0symbiont
- Outcome
- biomasse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Setting
- greenhousee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Selected endophytes significantly increased the biomass of date palms exposed to repeated drought stress periods during a 9-month greenhouse experiment”
The same questions in other papers
inoculation · growth · Phoenix dactylifera (date palm)Results agree
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