Heavy metals at more than threshold concentration interfere with usual physiological processes of plants. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi which form symbiotic association with plant root is reported to ameliorate abiotic and biotic stress. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of AM fungi Rhizophagus irregularis inoculation to Eleusine coracana growing under different concentration of Zinc in pot culture experiment. Plant growth parameters such as root length, shoot length and bio-mass, physiological parameters such as total chlorophyll, carbohydrate, protein, reducing sugar, free amino acid and proline content, antioxidative enzyme CAT and GPX activity were analyzed. Zn concentration of 100 ppm enhanced plant growth and physiology, where as high concentration of Zn (300 & 500 ppm) caused stress to the plant resulting in reduction in AM root colonization and spore density. However, the AM inoculation alleviated the Zn stress in all the treatments by enhancing antioxidation enzyme activities. The AM inoculation has, therefore, the potential to alleviate Zn stress in E. coracana.
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