Trichoderma Inoculation Alleviates Cd and Pb-Induced Toxicity and Improves Growth and Physiology of Vigna radiata (L.).

Heavy metals (HMs) pose a serious threat to agricultural productivity. Therefore, there is a need to find sustainable approaches to combat HM stressors in agriculture. In this study, we isolated Trichoderma sp. TF-13 from metal-polluted rhizospheric soil, which has the ability to resist 1600 and 1200 μg mL -1 cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), respectively. Owing to its remarkable metal tolerance, this fungal strain was applied for bioremediation of HMs in Vigna radiata (L.). Strain TF-13 produced siderophore, salicylic acid (SA; 43.4 μg mL -1 ) and 2,3-DHBA (21.0 μg mL -1 ), indole-3-acetic acid, ammonia, and ACC deaminase under HM stressed conditions. Increasing concentrations of tested HM ions caused severe reduction in overall growth of plants; however, Trichoderma sp. TF-13 inoculation significantly ( p ≤ 0.05) increased the growth and physiological traits of HM-treated V. radiata . Interestingly, Trichoderma sp. TF-13 improved germination rate (10%), root length (26%), root biomass (32%), and vigor index (12%) of V. radiata grown under 25 μg Cd kg -1 soil. Additionally, Trichoderma inoculation showed a significant ( p ≤ 0.05) increase in total chlorophyll, chl a, chl b, carotenoid content, root nitrogen (N), and root phosphorus (P) of 100 μg Cd kg -1 soil-treated plants over uninoculated treatment. Furthermore, enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant activities of Trichoderma inoculated in metal-treated plants were improved. For instance, strain TF-13 increased proline (37%), lipid peroxidation (56%), catalase (35%), peroxidase (42%), superoxide dismutase (27%), and glutathione reductase (39%) activities in 100 μg Pb kg -1 soil-treated plants. The uptake of Pb and Cd in root/shoot tissues was decreased by 34/39 and 47/38% in fungal-inoculated and 25 μg kg -1 soil-treated plants. Thus, this study demonstrates that stabilizing metal mobility in the rhizosphere through Trichoderma inoculation significantly reduced the detrimental effects of Cd and Pb toxicity in V. radiata and also enhanced development under HM stress conditions.