Culturable fungi from roots of Stipa gigantea

Abstract

Stipa gigantea is a large perennial grass native to the Iberian peninsula. Plants having an aerial biomass of several kilograms, and reproductive stems longer than 2 m often occur. Surprisingly, this species grows in sandy soils poor in nutrients, and in dry environments. These characteristics make this plant species an interesting subject to study if root fungal endophytes contribute to plant performance under suboptimal conditions. The final objective of this study was to isolate and identify culturable root endophytes to check if any fungal species improves crop species performance under poor nutrient and drought conditions.