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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are a genus of obligatory root biotrophs that can develop mutualistic symbioses with most terrestrial plants. This study aimed to investigate the impact of three different isolates of AMF (Acaulospora spinosa [M1], Glomus ambisporum [M2], and Scutellospora heterogama [M3]) isolated from native environments and three carriers (biochar, alginate, and polyacrylate) on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in a saline calcareous soil in conditions of water deficit. In a pot experiment, reduced amounts of water were applied at intervals of 4, 8, and 12 days, while in a field experiment, the intervals were 1, 2, and 3 weeks (W1, W2, and W3). By analyzing the chlorophyll index and dry weight data from the pot experiment, it was revealed that two AMF isolates (M1 and M2), along with two carriers (biochar and alginate), showed promising results in stimulating wheat growth. Based on these findings, a field validation experiment was conducted to further evaluate the effects of these isolates and carriers. The wheat plants subjected to water deficit stress exhibited improved vegetation characteristics, grain yield, nutrient uptake, and colonization percentage when treated with the AMF isolate M2 formulated on biochar. For instance, under W2 conditions without any mycorrhiza or carrier, the grain yield was recorded at 6,600 kg ha-1. However, with the inoculation of M2-biochar at the same W2 level, the yield significantly increased to 9110 kg ha-1. The study concluded that AMF formulated on biochar outperformed other carriers, leading to enhanced wheat growth under water stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oleaginous fungi have recently gained increasing attention among different microorganisms due to their ability for lipid production for the preparation of biofuel. In the present study, a locally isolated fungus E45, identified genetically as Aspergillus sp. strain EM2018, was found to produce 25.2% of the total lipids content of its dry cell weight (DCW). Optimization of culture conditions was performed and lipid accumulation increased by about 2.4 fold (from 25.2% to 60.1% of DCW) when the fungus was grown for seven days in the potato dextrose (50 g/L) liquid medium at pH 5.0, incubation temperature at 30 °C and inoculum size of 2 × 106 spore/mL. Supplementation of the medium with yeast extract and NaNO3 at a concentration of 0.05% as organic and inorganic nitrogen sources, respectively, increased lipid production (53.3% lipid/dry biomass). Gas chromatography analysis of fungal lipids revealed the presence of saturated (mainly palmitic acid C16:0 (33%) and lignoceric acid C24:0 (15%)) and unsaturated fatty acids in different proportions (mainly linoleic acid C18:2 (24.4%), oleica cid C18:1 (14%) and arachidonic C20:4 (7.4%). These findings suggest this new oleaginous fungus as a promising feedstock for various industrial applications and for the preparation of biodiesel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]