Study of Trichoderma asperellum TCS007 from marine habitat on alleviating drought-stressed in fava bean

Trichoderma spp. is a class of beneficial microorganisms that not only can promote plant growth but also induce plants to develop tolerance to biological and abiotic stresses. Our laboratory obtained a bacterial strain TCS007 from Antarctic marine sediments and it is identified as a Trichoderma asperellum. Previous studies have shown that TCS007 can significantly improve the ability of plants to resist salt and cold. In this paper, the role of TCS007 in inducing plant drought resistance was studied at the physiological and biochemical levels in fava beans. The experiment was conducted using the greenhouse potting method to determine the physiological and biochemical indicators of fava beans under different treatment conditions. The results showed that when treated with TCS007 spore suspension, the height, total weight, fresh root weight and total chlorophyll content of fava beans increased by 28.7％, 42.9％, 34.2％ and 26.2%, the total sugar, total protein content, and relative water content of fava beans leaves increased by 11.1%-106.0%, 38.0%-68.8% and 7.0%-19.0%, respectively, compared with blank control (CK) under drought-stress. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased by 28.8%, 13.3% and 8.0% in the roots stems and leaves of fava beans, peroxidase (POD) activity increased by 10.8%, 22.4% and 14.8%, respectively, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content decreased by 37.2%, 14.7% and 12.1%, respectively. In addition, the content of plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) in the roots, stems and leaves of fava beans increased by 21.1%-33.2%, 44.9%-60.6% and 28.2%-78.7%, and the content of auxin indoleacetic acid (IAA) increased by 20.9%-29.0%, 19.7%-37.3% and 11.1%-23.8%, respectively. These results suggested that TCS007 can improve the drought resistance of fava beans at physiological and biochemical levels. This work provides a theoretical basis for the development of TCS007 into a bacterial fertilizer product of Trichoderma.