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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (7): 179-189.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2020267

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Advances in artificial inoculation technology for grass-endophytic fungi

Chun-jie LI(), Ming-xiao LANG, Zhen-jiang CHEN, Zheng-feng WANG, Tai-xiang CHEN   

  1. Key Laboratory of Grassland Agricultural Ecosystem,Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation,Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry,Ministry of Education,Gansu Technology Innovation Center for Western China Grassland Industry,Center for Grassland Microbiome,College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730020,China
  • Received:2020-06-08 Revised:2020-07-16 Online:2021-07-20 Published:2021-06-03
  • Contact: Chun-jie LI

Abstract:

Epichloё fungal endophytes of grasses not only improve the competitiveness of the host plants in plant communities, but also cause toxicoses in livestock. These dual effects have attracted widespread scientific attention both domestically in China and internationally. However, the use of Epichloё endophyte as a resource is limited due to its host-specificity. With the development and application of molecular biology and genomics, more and more novel endophytes have been discovered. Meanwhile, grass tissue culture regeneration systems have been developed and established. These points of progress have supplemented the traditional methods of artificial inoculation of grass endophytes to some extent. Screening endophytes with excellent characteristics, then establishing symbionts that are non-toxic to livestock and thereby improving host quality as a livestock feed, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress through artificial inoculation, are the research directions and hotspots in the present and future. This study reviewed the existing techniques for artificial inoculation of endophytes in grasses, and found that the main inoculation methods currently are: Sterile seedling inoculation, injection inoculation, seed inoculation, callus inoculation, and adult plant inoculation. Among these, the sterile seedling inoculation method is widely used and the technique is becoming well adopted, but this method and injection inoculation are harmful to plants and increase seedling mortality. The potential success rate of the callus inoculation method is high, however the procedures for mature tissue culture regeneration are currently still developing, hence this method is less used. The seed slit inoculation method is an attempt at a new inoculation method; This method is simple and easy to operate, but there is no successful example. The seed soaking inoculation method causes little physical damage to plant tissues, so the seedling survival rate is high, which can effectively improve the success rate of inoculation. Through research and exploration of existing artificial inoculation techniques, it should be possible to develop the artificial inoculation methods for use with other microorganisms, and at the same time explore new inoculation methods with higher success rate and better compatibility, to broaden the range of symbiotic endophytes available for use in grasses, and so obtain more symbionts with better traits.

Key words: grass fungal endophyte, artificial inoculation, sterile seedling inoculation method, injection inoculation method, seed inoculation method, callus inoculation method, adult plant inoculation method