Potential of <i>Cladophialophora inabaensis</i> EUCL1 and <i>Exophiala</i> sp. BCM1 for abiotic stress resilience in maize

This study investigated the effects of two dark septate endophytic (DSE) fungi, <i>Cladophialophora inabaensis</i> EUCL1 and <i>Exophiala</i> sp. BCM1, on maize growth under no-stress, drought, saline, and alkaline salt conditions. Maize was cultivated in agar and soil-based systems, and growth parameters including shoot and root lengths, biomass, chlorophyll content, and stem diameter were evaluated to assess the efficacy of DSE inoculation. Both <i>C. inabaensis</i> EUCL1 and <i>Exophiala</i> sp. BCM1 showed promising effects to ameliorate negative effects of drought, saline, and alkaline salt stress. Maize inoculated with <i>C. inabaensis</i> EUCL1 exhibited significantly enhanced growth under no-stress conditions. Under drought stress, <i>C. inabaensis</i> EUCL1 increased shoot length by 148.94% <i>in vitro</i>, while <i>Exophiala</i> sp. BCM1 improved shoot and root dry mass by 196.55 and 188.21% respectively, on soil cultivation compared with the control. Notably, <i>C. inabaensis</i> EUCL1 also demonstrated strong potential in supporting maize growth under both saline and alkaline salt stress in soil-based systems. In response to saline stress, <i>C. inabaensis</i> EUCL1-treated plants exhibited marked increases in shoot and root dry mass by 176.15 and 152.77%, respectively. Under alkaline salt stress, shoot and root dry mass increased by 352.28 and 153.3%, respectively, compared with the control. Overall improvements in observed growth parameters indicate that DSE inoculation successfully mitigated the negative effects of abiotic stress. This study is the first to report the efficacy of <i>C. inabaensis</i> EUCL1 and <i>Exophiala</i> sp. BCM1 as effective bioinoculants for enhancing maize resilience under multiple abiotic stresses.