Effects of parasitism by a root hemiparasite on mutualistic relationship between host grasses and their Epichloë endophytes

doi:10.11686/cyxb2019242

Abstract

Abstract: Pedidcularis kansuensis, a root hemiparasite plant, is widely distributed in the degraded grassland of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It can establish parasitic root associations with host grasses through haustoria. However, few studies examine the effect of Epichloë endophyte on host grass performance when the host grasses are common hosts of both P. kansuensis and Epichloë endophyte. To study this question, we evaluated the effects of endophyte infection and parasitism of P. kansuensis on plant height, tiller number, biomass, root∶shoot ratio and haustorial anatomy of two host grasses, Stipa purpurea and Elymus tangutorum. Plant height, tiller number, and biomass of the host plants decreased in the presence of P. kansuensis. However, the impact of Epichloë endophyte on host grass performance differed for the two host species studied. Tiller number, biomass and root:shoot ratio of E+ S. purpurea were significantly higher than for their E- counterparts, while the number functional haustoria (FHa) of E+ S. purpurea was lower than in E- plants. By contrast, plant height, tiller number, biomass and root:shoot ratio of E- E. tangutorum were higher than for the E+ counterparts, while the number of FHa of E+ E. tangutorum plants was more than for E- plants. Hence, these results suggest that interactions between the Epichloë endophyte and host grasses are species-dependent, ranging from mutualism to parasitism, and also display a plant genotype x endophyte strain interaction that can strongly affect the mutualistic interaction between the host grass and the Epichloë endophyte.

Key words: Epichloë endophyte;, Stipa purpurea, root hemiparasite, mutualism, antagonism, Pedicularis kansuensis

BAO Gen-sheng, SONG Mei-ling, WANG Yu-qin, LI Chun-jie. Effects of parasitism by a root hemiparasite on mutualistic relationship between host grasses and their Epichloë endophytes[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2020, 29(2): 42-51.

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