CLIMATE CHANGE: APPLICATION OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGAL CONSORTIA FROM XEROPHYTIC TREES FOR INDUCING DROUGHT TOLERANCE IN RICE

Climate change has exacerbated drought and desertification thereby intensifying their frequency and duration, leading to crop failures and famine. Endophytic fungal consortia from xerophytic trees in Jigawa state, Nigeria were identified and applied to induce drought tolerance in rice. Root samples were collected from Hyphaene thebaica, Acacia albida, Piliostigma reticulatum, and Ziziphus mauritiana while rice seeds were collected from International Institute of Tropical Agriculturein Kano using standard methods. Classical method was used to culture and identify fungi with appropriate guides while their colony diameter and total biomass were measured under Polyethylene glycol PEG-8000 (8%) induced drought. Fungal inoculated rice seedlings were cultivated under drought conditions, their growth and yield parameters were measured and their differences were computed using analysis of variance while fungal consortia contributions were determined using principal component analysis. The highest number of species was five in Aalbida while the lowest was two in Z. mauritiana. The largest colony diameter and total biomass were 112.17±24.11mm and 6.01±1.12mgg-1 in A. niger and A. aculeatus both from Aalbida. Rice height was highest (71.10±16.73cm) and lowest (49.36±10.34cm) while grain yield was highest (314.40±51.50 kgha-1 ) and lowest (149.72±38.48 kgha-1 ) in A. albida consortium and the control respectively which differed significantly (P<0.05). Harvest index was highest (0.36) in A. albida treatment and lowest (0.30) in the control. Two principal components accounted for 100% of total variations in growth and yield parameters with PC1 (A. albida=99.75%)and PC2 (P. reticulatum=0.26%) indicating the significance of A. albida fungal consortia.