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Abstract
Gmelina arborea Roxb. seedlings were inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomus fasciculatum in a drought stress experiment. Irrigation was withheld after 30 days of AM inoculation and drought period were started. Control plants (non-AM and AM plants) were irrigated. Gmelina inoculated with Glomus fasciculatum grown under drought stress showed a significant increase in various morphological parameters like shoot and root length, fresh and dry weight as compared to non-AM inoculated Gmelina plants. Besides this, antioxidant activities (superoxide dismutase, guiacol peroxidase and catalase) were found to protect plants from drought stress. The relevance of the activities of these enzymes to drought stress indicates that AM inoculated Gmelina plants are found to be tolerant compared to non-AM inoculated Gmelina plants, which led us to conclude that AM treated Gmelina plants are sturdier and adaptive to stress conditions. These findings also suggest that association improves plant–water relations and contributes to drought tolerance in forest trees.