Abstract
Castanea sativa Miller, a high-valuable crop for Mediterranean countries, is facing frequent and prolonged periods of heat and drought, severely affecting chestnut production. Aiming to tackle this problem, this study unraveled the influence of mycorrhizal association with the fungi Paxillus involutus (Batsch) on young chestnut plants' responses to combined heat (42 °C; 4 h/day) and drought (no irrigation until soil moisture reached 25%) over 21 days of stress exposure. Heat stress had no harmful effects on growth, photosynthesis, nor induced oxidative stress in either mycorrhizal (MR) or non-mycorrhizal (NMR) chestnut plants. However, drought (alone or combined) reduced the growth of NMR plants, affecting water content, leaf production, and foliar area, while also hampering net CO2 assimilation and carbon relations. The mycorrhizal association, however, mitigated the detrimental effects of both stresses, resulting in less susceptibility and fewer growth limitations in MR chestnut plants, which were capable of ensuring a proper carbon flow. Evaluation of the oxidative metabolism revealed increased lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide levels in NMR plants under water scarcity, supporting their higher susceptibility to stress. Conversely, MR plants activated defense mechanisms by accumulating antioxidant metabolites (ascorbate, proline and glutathione), preventing oxidative damage, especially under the combined stress. Overall, drought was the most detrimental condition for chestnut growth, with heat exacerbating stress susceptibility. Moreover, mycorrhizal association with P. involutus substantially alleviated these effects by improving growth, water relations, photosynthesis, and activating defense mechanisms. Thus, this research highlights mycorrhization's potential to enhance C. sativa resilience against climate change, especially at early developmental stages.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Heat stress had no harmful effects on growth or photosynthesis and did not induce oxidative stress in mycorrhizal or non-mycorrhizal chestnut plants.
- Taxon
- chestnute0
- Treatment
- Heat stresse0
- Outcome
- growth, photosynthesis, nor induced oxidative stresse0
- Direction
- no harmful effectse0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Heat stress had no harmful effects on growth, photosynthesis, nor induced oxidative stress in either mycorrhizal (MR) or non-mycorrhizal (NMR) chestnut plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought, alone or combined with heat, reduced the growth of non-mycorrhizal chestnut plants.
- Taxon
- Castanea sativa
_(45032673662).jpg?width=60)
Castanea sativat0 - Material
- NMR plantse0
- Treatment
- drought (alone or combined)e0
- Outcome
- growthe0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_(45032673662).jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“drought (alone or combined) reduced the growth of NMR plants, affecting water content, leaf production, and foliar area, while also hampering net CO2 assimilation and carbon relations”
t0“Castanea sativa”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought, alone or combined, affected water content, leaf production and foliar area in non-mycorrhizal chestnut plants.
- Taxon
- Castanea sativaCastanea sativat0
- Material
- NMR plantse0
- Treatment
- drought (alone or combined)e0
- Outcome
- water content, leaf production, and foliar areae0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought (alone or combined) reduced the growth of NMR plants, affecting water content, leaf production, and foliar area, while also hampering net CO2 assimilation and carbon relations”
t0“Castanea sativa”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought, alone or combined, hampered net CO2 assimilation and carbon relations in non-mycorrhizal chestnut plants.
- Taxon
- Castanea sativaCastanea sativat0
- Material
- NMR plantse0
- Treatment
- drought (alone or combined)e0
- Outcome
- net CO2 assimilation and carbon relationse0
- Direction
- hamperinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought (alone or combined) reduced the growth of NMR plants, affecting water content, leaf production, and foliar area, while also hampering net CO2 assimilation and carbon relations”
t0“Castanea sativa”
Claim · model-written summary
Mycorrhizal association mitigated the detrimental effects of heat and drought, giving less susceptibility and fewer growth limitations in mycorrhizal chestnut plants.
- Taxon
- chestnute0
- Treatment
- mycorrhizal associatione0
- Interactor
- Paxillus involutus
.jpg?width=60)
Paxillus involutust1symbiont - Outcome
- detrimental effects of both stressese0
- Direction
- mitigatede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“The mycorrhizal association, however, mitigated the detrimental effects of both stresses, resulting in less susceptibility and fewer growth limitations in MR chestnut plants”
t1“Paxillus involutus”
Claim · model-written summary
Mycorrhizal chestnut plants were capable of ensuring a proper carbon flow under stress.
Verbatim
e0“MR chestnut plants, which were capable of ensuring a proper carbon flow”
Claim · model-written summary
Non-mycorrhizal chestnut plants under water scarcity showed increased lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide levels.
- Taxon
- Castanea sativaCastanea sativat0
- Material
- NMR plantse0
- Treatment
- water scarcitye0
- Outcome
- lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide levelse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Evaluation of the oxidative metabolism revealed increased lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide levels in NMR plants under water scarcity”
t0“Castanea sativa”
Claim · model-written summary
Mycorrhizal plants prevented oxidative damage, especially under the combined stress.
- Taxon
- Castanea sativaCastanea sativat0
- Material
- MR plantse0
- Treatment
- combined stresse0
- Outcome
- oxidative damagee0
- Direction
- preventinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“MR plants activated defense mechanisms by accumulating antioxidant metabolites (ascorbate, proline and glutathione), preventing oxidative damage, especially under the combined stress”
t0“Castanea sativa”
Claim · model-written summary
Overall, drought was the most detrimental condition for chestnut growth.
Verbatim
e0“Overall, drought was the most detrimental condition for chestnut growth”
The same questions in other papers
drought · growth · Castanea sativa (European chestnut)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- negative
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.