Evaluation of seedling establishment of barley under copper stress in the presence of Trichoderma harzianum

To evaluate the effects of bio-priming by Trichoderma harzianum on copper tolerance of barley seedlings, a factorial experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design, with three replications in Research Farm and Seed Technology Lab of faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources in University of Mohaghegh Ardabili in year 2016. Experimental factors included pre-treatment (non-priming, hydro-priming, bio-priming, external use of Trichoderma) and concentrations of copper (0.29, 2.9, 29, 290 µM). Commercial Trichoderma was used in this experiment. In the main experiment after seed pre-treatments, barley seeds were sown in plastic pots. After seed planting, the different copper concentrations (as CuCl2) were applied along with hoagland-arnon nutrient solution. For copper stress, CuCl2 was added in Hogland-Arnon nutrient solution. Results revealed that root lenght was significantly reduced at 29 and 290 μM concentrations of copper and shoot length and chlorophyll at 290 μM of copper were further declined. Copper toxicity effect was not significant on leaf area and stomatal conductance. Hydro-priming, bio-priming and external use of Trichoderma had a positive effect on the leaf area compared to control, but these pre-treatments had no effects on the other measured traits.