Role of Trametes hirsuta on Petunia hybrida Vilm. in the Presence of Cadmium and Lead

Fungal endophytes can improve the growth of plants and are considered as an effective tool for metal remediation. Trametes hirsuta was tested for Cd and Pb tolerance, further Petunia hybrida Vilm. was infected at seedling stage by T. hirsuta and was tested to see the impact of Cd and Pb toxicity. On potato dextrose agar media plates T. hirsuta showed growth till 500 mg/L of Cd and 1000 mg/L of Pb, respectively. P. hybrida inoculated with fungus showed increased fresh biomass of 33.1, 20.1 and 51.8% in roots, stems and leaves, respectively, for Cd exposed plant, along with 53.5% higher chlorophyll content as compared to their respective non-inoculated plants. In case of Pb, plants inoculated with fungus showed 39% higher stem and 42% root fresh biomass along with 64% higher chlorophyll content. Significantly higher Cd and Pb accumulation in the roots and stems was observed in case of T. hirsuta infected plants as compared to their respective non-infected ones. While antioxidant production reduced significantly in case of T. hirsuta infected plants. Our results strongly suggest that T. hirsuta is capable to promote P. hybrida growth and also improves the extraction of Cd and Pb. Therefore, endophytic fungus assisted phytoremediation can have great potential to restore contaminated soils.