Bio-priming with Trichoderma Enhanced Faster Reserve Mobilization in Germinating Soybean Cotyledons under Graded Macronutrients

Abstract

The study highlighted the effect of seed bio-priming with Trichoderma viride upon degradation of stored foods, total phenol content, and uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in cotyledons of germinating soybean (Glycine max var. JS 95-60) under graded NPK application. The germination was carried out in Petri dish and soil, separately. Observations were monitored for two days (day 3 and day 5). We estimated hydrolysis of starch, lipid, and protein by measuring the activities of α-amylase [EC 3.2.1.1], β-amylase [EC 3.2.1.2], lipase [EC 3.1.1.3], and leucine Aminopeptidase [EC 3.4.11.1], respectively. Total NPK in cotyledons were obtained by acid-digestion. The free radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation were performed using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, respectively, to perceive anti-oxidant potential of phenol. We found strong influence of bio-priming on the activities of lipase, α-amylase, and β-amylase that degraded stored lipid and transient starch faster than non-primed seeds. Protein hydrolysis was moderately affected by induced leucine aminopeptidase activities and found significantly higher in bio-primed seeds on day 5. Elevated phenols (P < 0.05) in bio-primed cotyledons were able to diminish the lipid peroxidation with higher (P < 0.05) radical scavenging activities. During both days, higher K contents were found in bio-primed cotyledons but the concentrations of N and P were found significantly higher in bio-primed treatments only on day 5. The combined effect from all these has resulted in faster and vigorous germination of Trichoderma viride treated soybean seeds than non-primed ones. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.