Effect of Plant-Growth-Promoting Fungi on Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) in New Reclamation Land

Abstract

Land reclamation may expand the supply of usable land for food security. Immature soil is not suitable for plant growth and needs to be amended by the addition of organic matter and plant growth-promoting (PGP) microorganisms. However, the effects of different PGP fungi on plant growth in immature soil are largely unexplored. In order to obtain beneficial soil microorganisms with a good PGP ability in new reclamation land, 162 fungal isolates were isolated from different abandoned wastelands, four isolates of which were obtained in this study by the screening of P solubilization, siderophore production, and indole acetic acid (IAA) production. The result of this study revealed that isolate HZ123 had the highest ability to solubilize P and produce siderophores and IAA, followed by HZ23, HZ10, and HZ06. Based on the results of morphological and molecular analyses, isolate HZ06 was identified as Penicillium oxalicum, isolates HZ23 and HZ10 were identified as Aspergillus brunneoviolaceus, and isolate HZ123 was identified as Aspergillustubingensis. Furthermore, the results of in vivo PGP assays demonstrated that isolate HZ123 has a minimal negative effect on the growth of eggplant; however, the other three isolates, particularly isolate HZ06, caused the greatest increase in eggplant biomasses. Overall, these results indicate that isolate HZ06 has great potential as a PGP fungus to develop biofertilizer for application in eggplant production in immature soil from new reclamation land.