Abiotic stresses on crops are a result of the long-term changes in climate. The principal factor limiting crop growth, development and production is drought stress. Eighty percent of all known terrestrial plants have symbiotic relationships with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF). It has a positive effect on plant development, water uptake and abiotic stress defence. In this perspective, AM fungal isolates were obtained from Karnataka's drought-prone regions. The MPN technique was used to count the infectious propagules in each isolate. The effective isolates were tested in chilli at various field capacity (FC) levels (25, 50, 75, and 100% FC) for drought tolerance. Plants were grown in polythene bags for 30 days under greenhouse condition and based on performance of mycorrhizal parameters and plant parameters, the efficient drought tolerant isolates (AMC23 and AMR1) were selected.

AM fungi, Chilli, drought stress

Plants respond to drought stress by adopting different strategies, which allow them to avoid stress and/or enhance drought tolerance. Plant roots have highly plastic traits that can be modulated by AMF to enhance water uptake and/or minimize water loss. This dehydration tolerance is associated with survival and sustained physiological adaptations to improve the performance of plants and enhance the yield under drought stress condition.

R. Mythra, G.S. Srikanth, Praveen Ranadev and L. Krishna Naik (2023). Screening of efficient Drought Tolerant Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi for Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(8): 130-134.