Paper · 2024 · The Science of The Total Environment

Enhancing tomato plants' tolerance to combined heat and salt stress – The role of arbuscular mycorrhizae and biochar

Bruno Sousa; Cristiano Soares; Filipa Sousa; et al.

12
claims
22
verbatim quotes
23
citations
3
research areas
✓
Open access · cc-by

Abstract

The Mediterranean basin is highly susceptible to climate change, with soil salinization and the increase in average temperatures being two of the main factors affecting crop productivity in this region. Following our previous studies on describing the detrimental effects of heat and salt stress co-exposure on tomato plants, this study aimed to understand if substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochar could mitigate the negative consequences of these stresses. Upon 21 days of exposure, stressed tomato plants grown under supplemented substrates showed increased tolerance to heat (42 °C for 4 h/day), salt (100 mM NaCl), and their combination, presenting increased biomass and flowering rate. The beneficial effects of AMF and biochar were associated with a better ionic balance (i.e. lower sodium accumulation and higher uptake of calcium and magnesium) and increased photosynthetic efficiency. Indeed, these plants presented higher chlorophyll content and improved CO2 assimilation rates. Biochemical data further supported that tomato plants grown with AMF and biochar were capable of efficiently modulating their defence pathways, evidenced by the accumulation of proline, ascorbate, and glutathione, coupled with a lower dependency on energy-costly enzymatic antioxidant players. In summary, the obtained data strongly point towards a beneficial role of combined AMF and biochar as sustainable tools to improve plant growth and development under a climate change scenario, where soil salinization and heat peaks often occur together.

Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗

The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.

Claims 12

Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Supplemented tomato plants showed increased heat tolerance after 21 days.

Treatment
substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochare1
Interactor
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungie1symbiont
Outcome
tolerance to heate0
Direction
increasede0
Qualifier
42 °C for 4 h/daye0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Upon 21 days of exposure, stressed tomato plants grown under supplemented substrates showed increased tolerance to heat (42 °C for 4 h/day), salt (100 mM NaCl), and their combination, presenting increased biomass and flowering rate.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 515–747 · show in text ↑
e1

“substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochar”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 360–454 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Supplemented tomato plants showed increased salt tolerance after 21 days.

Treatment
substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochare1
Interactor
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungie1symbiont
Outcome
tolerancee0
Direction
increasede0
Qualifier
salt (100 mM NaCl)e0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Upon 21 days of exposure, stressed tomato plants grown under supplemented substrates showed increased tolerance to heat (42 °C for 4 h/day), salt (100 mM NaCl), and their combination, presenting increased biomass and flowering rate.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 515–747 · show in text ↑
e1

“substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochar”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 360–454 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Supplemented tomato plants showed increased tolerance to combined heat and salt stress after 21 days.

Treatment
substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochare1
Interactor
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungie1symbiont
Outcome
tolerancee0
Direction
increasede0
Qualifier
heat (42 °C for 4 h/day), salt (100 mM NaCl), and their combinatione0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Upon 21 days of exposure, stressed tomato plants grown under supplemented substrates showed increased tolerance to heat (42 °C for 4 h/day), salt (100 mM NaCl), and their combination, presenting increased biomass and flowering rate.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 515–747 · show in text ↑
e1

“substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochar”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 360–454 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Supplemented stressed tomato plants showed increased biomass and flowering rate.

Treatment
substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochare1
Interactor
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungie1symbiont
Outcome
biomass and flowering ratee0
Direction
increasede0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Upon 21 days of exposure, stressed tomato plants grown under supplemented substrates showed increased tolerance to heat (42 °C for 4 h/day), salt (100 mM NaCl), and their combination, presenting increased biomass and flowering rate.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 515–747 · show in text ↑
e1

“substrate supplementation with a combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biochar”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 360–454 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Benefits of AMF and biochar were associated with lower sodium accumulation.

Treatment
AMF and biochare0
Interactor
AMFe0symbiont
Outcome
sodium accumulatione0
Direction
lowere0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“The beneficial effects of AMF and biochar were associated with a better ionic balance (i.e. lower sodium accumulation and higher uptake of calcium and magnesium) and increased photosynthetic efficiency.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 748–950 · show in text ↑
t0

“tomato”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 10–16 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Benefits of AMF and biochar were associated with higher calcium and magnesium uptake.

Treatment
AMF and biochare0
Interactor
AMFe0symbiont
Outcome
uptake of calcium and magnesiume0
Direction
highere0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“The beneficial effects of AMF and biochar were associated with a better ionic balance (i.e. lower sodium accumulation and higher uptake of calcium and magnesium) and increased photosynthetic efficiency.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 748–950 · show in text ↑
t0

“tomato”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 10–16 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Benefits of AMF and biochar were associated with increased photosynthetic efficiency.

Treatment
AMF and biochare0
Interactor
AMFe0symbiont
Outcome
photosynthetic efficiencye0
Direction
increasede0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“The beneficial effects of AMF and biochar were associated with a better ionic balance (i.e. lower sodium accumulation and higher uptake of calcium and magnesium) and increased photosynthetic efficiency.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 748–950 · show in text ↑
t0

“tomato”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 10–16 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Supplemented plants had higher chlorophyll content.

Treatment
AMF and biochare1
Interactor
AMFe1symbiont
Outcome
chlorophyll contente0
Direction
highere0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Indeed, these plants presented higher chlorophyll content and improved CO2 assimilation rates.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 951–1045 · show in text ↑
e1

“tomato plants grown with AMF and biochar”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1086–1126 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Supplemented plants had improved CO2 assimilation rates.

Treatment
AMF and biochare1
Interactor
AMFe1symbiont
Outcome
CO2 assimilation ratese0
Direction
improvede0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Indeed, these plants presented higher chlorophyll content and improved CO2 assimilation rates.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 951–1045 · show in text ↑
e1

“tomato plants grown with AMF and biochar”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1086–1126 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Tomato plants with AMF and biochar accumulated proline, ascorbate and glutathione.

Treatment
AMF and biochare0
Interactor
AMFe0symbiont
Outcome
accumulation of proline, ascorbate, and glutathionee0

Not reportedDirection

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“tomato plants grown with AMF and biochar were capable of efficiently modulating their defence pathways, evidenced by the accumulation of proline, ascorbate, and glutathione, coupled with a lower dependency on energy-costly enzymatic antioxidant players.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1086–1339 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Tomato plants with AMF and biochar had lower dependence on enzymatic antioxidants.

Treatment
AMF and biochare0
Interactor
AMFe0symbiont
Outcome
dependency on energy-costly enzymatic antioxidant playerse0
Direction
lowere0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“tomato plants grown with AMF and biochar were capable of efficiently modulating their defence pathways, evidenced by the accumulation of proline, ascorbate, and glutathione, coupled with a lower dependency on energy-costly enzymatic antioxidant players.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1086–1339 · show in text ↑
Recommendationauthor interpretationoriginal resultpositivebasis n/a

Claim · model-written summary

The authors support combined AMF and biochar as sustainable tools for growth and development under co-occurring salinity and heat.

Interactor
AMFe0symbiont
Outcome
combined AMF and biochar as sustainable toolse0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum · TaxonKod B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“the obtained data strongly point towards a beneficial role of combined AMF and biochar as sustainable tools to improve plant growth and development under a climate change scenario, where soil salinization and heat peaks often occur together.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1352–1593 · show in text ↑
t0

“tomato”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 10–16 · show in text ↑

biochar · growth · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Results differ

80 papers: 71 positive, 9 negative or no effect

70 papers in the same direction as this paper · 8 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative

  1. no effect
  2. negative
  3. negative

76 papers more in this group

See all 80 papers →

biochar · physiology: photosynthesis · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results

7 papers: 6 positive, 1 negative or no effect

5 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction

  1. negative
  2. positive
  3. positive

3 papers more in this group

See all 7 papers →

biochar · physiology: pigments · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results

13 papers: 12 positive, 1 negative or no effect

11 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction

  1. no effect
  2. positive
  3. positive

9 papers more in this group

See all 13 papers →

mycorrhiza · physiology: photosynthesis · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results

19 papers: 18 positive, 1 negative or no effect

17 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction

  1. no effect
  2. positive
  3. positive

15 papers more in this group

See all 19 papers →

mycorrhiza · physiology: pigments · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results

22 papers: 21 positive, 1 negative or no effect

20 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction

  1. no effect
  2. positive
  3. positive

18 papers more in this group

See all 22 papers →

growing medium · disease · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results

29 papers: 25 positive, 4 negative or no effect

24 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative

  1. negative
  2. negative
  3. negative

25 papers more in this group

See all 29 papers →

mycorrhiza · disease · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results

37 papers: 31 positive, 6 negative or no effect

30 papers in the same direction as this paper · 6 in the opposite direction

  1. negative
  2. negative
  3. negative

33 papers more in this group

See all 37 papers →

mycorrhiza · growth · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results

144 papers: 127 positive, 17 negative or no effect

126 papers in the same direction as this paper · 15 in the opposite direction · 2 reporting no difference from an alternative

  1. positive
  2. no effect
  3. no effect

140 papers more in this group

See all 144 papers →

8 of 12 groups shown: named compounds and organisms first, then groups whose results differ (checked claim by claim), then those with positive and negative results, then the smaller groups.

Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.