The effect of Piriformospora indica mycorrhizal fungi on growth and some physiological parameters of Coriandrum sativum

Piriformospora indica fungi stimulates the growth and increase in the host biomass through absorption of water and minerals. In order to evaluate the effect of mycorrhizal fungus P. indica on growth and some physiological parameters of Coriandrum sativum, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design through treatment of plants inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi and control plants with 15 replications in 2015 under greenhouse conditions.The results of ANOVA indicated that the shoot length, root length, and dry weight of plants inoculated with fungi were significantly higher than control plants. Also results of analysis of variance showed that the application of P. indica increased the proline content, so that the proline content in the plants inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi was 2.09 times higher than control plants. In addition, the findings of the study suggested that inoculation of the plant with P. indica increased the contents of chlorophyll a (17%), chlorophyll b (51%), and carotenoids (25%) in comparison with the control plant, where the increase was only significant in chlorophyll b and carotenoids (P≤0.05). Generally, the results indicated that mycorrhizal symbiosis increased the growth and improved the physiological characteristics of coriander.