Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on physiological properties of tomato seedlings under low temperature stress

The objective of this study was to gain better insight into the biological mechanisms of enhancing Chilling resistance tomato seedlings by AMF(arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi).Tomato variety 'zhong za No.105' was used.The growth and physiological indexes were measured under low temperature stress following inoculating AMF.The results indicated that low temperature stress resulted in decreases of height,fresh weight,dry weight and root-shoot ratio and the relative chlorophyll content,but increases of electrolyte permeability,soluble protein and MDA contents and,the activities of SOD and POD.The activity of CAT increased firstly and then reduced.AMF-inoculation improved the increment of plant height,the relative chlorophyll,soluble protein contents,SOD、POD and CAT activities,In contrast,the electrolyte permeability and MDA content decreased.It is therefore concluded that the cold tolerance of tomato seedlings was enhanced by AMF,probably due to alleviating damages to physiological indexes.