Ibatsam Khokhar, Muhammad Sale
Abstract
Penicillium spp. produce a variety of beneficial metabolites for plant growth and survival, as well as defend their hosts from attack of certain pathogens. In present study 20 Penicillium spp. culture filtrates were screened for growth activity in wheat seedlings. Germination percentage of wheat seeds was enhanced by Penicillium spp. culture extracts. Although, the most active inhibitors of seed gremination were P. dendriticum, P. herquei, P. notatum, and P. oxalicum. Results revealed that he highest seedling root length was attained by P. olivicolor followed by P. bravicompactum and P. spinulosum While, the lowest root growth was attained from P. duclauxii and P. islandicum among other Penicillium culture filtrate treatments. The highest seedling shoot length was observed with P. variabile and P. herquei followed by P. aurantiogriseum - A and P. viridicatum while other Penicillium cultural filtrates significantly suppressed the shoot length as compared to control value (P < 0.05). Fresh and dry weight and of wheat seedling were also significantly higher in Penicillium treatments as compared to control (P < 0.05). Although, in P. dendriticum treatment, fresh and dry weight of seedling was considerably poor. Whereas, P. roquefortii, P. bravicompactum, P. islandicum and P. implicatum had higher values for seedling dry matter. Results revealed that Penicillium spp. are effective for growth parameters and can be used to further investigations and raise the yield of wheat and other cereal crops.