Isolation of a gibberellin-producing fungus (Penicillium sp. MH7) and growth promotion of Crown daisy (Chrysanthemum coronarium).

Plant growth promoting fungi (PGPF) are well known for the production of useful secondary metabolites. However, limited information's are available on gibberellin (GA) production capacity of PGPF of endophytic origin. In current study, 15 fungal endophytes were isolated from the roots of Crown daisy, and then screened on Waito-c rice, in order to identify plant growth promoting fungi. The fungal isolate MH7 significantly increased shoot length (12.1 cm) of Waito-c in comparison to control treatment (7.9 cm). In a separate experiment, culture filtrate (CF) of MH7 significantly promoted growth attributes of Crown daisy. The MH7 CF was analyzed for gibberellins and it contained all physiologically active gibberellins (GA1, 1.37 ng/ml; GA3, 5.88 ng/ml; GA4, 8.62 ng/ml and GA7, 2.05 ng/ml) in conjunction with physiologically inactive GA9 (0.83 ng/ml), GA12 (0.44 ng/ml), GA15 (0.74 ng/ml), GA19 (1.16 ng/ml) and GA20 (0.98 ng/ml). The CF of MH7 produced higher amounts of GA3, GA4, GA7, GA9 and GA12 than wild type Fusarium fujikuroi, which was used as control for GA production. The fungal isolate MH7 was later identified as a new strain of Penicillium on the basis of morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of 18S rDNA sequence.