. 2016 May 25;6:26583. doi: 10.1038/srep26583

Table 1. Effect of inoculation with endophytes (CATDLF5 and CATDLF6) on physiological and growth parameters of Catharanthus roseus plants.

Treatment	NC	C	CATDLF5	CATDLF6
Chlorophyll (mg gFW⁻¹)	1.74 ± 0.03^a	1.55 ± 0.03^b	1.61 ± 0.04^b	1.55 ± 0.03^b
Carotenoids (mg gFW⁻¹)	0.07 ± 0.010^a	0.06 ± 0.005^a	0.06 ± 0.003^a	0.07 ± 0.004^a
Fv/Fm	0.83 ± 0.01^a	0.73 ± 0.01^b	0.73 ± 0.02^b	0.75 ± 0.02^b
A (μmol m⁻² s⁻¹)	14.77 ± 0.43^a	11.97 ± 0.20^b	12.47 ± 0.60^b	11.70 ± 0.71^b
E (mmol m⁻² s⁻¹)	10.63 ± 0.46^a	8.59 ± 0.41^b	8.91 ± 0.17^b	8.81 ± 0.44^b
gS (mmol m⁻² s⁻¹)	481.00 ± 5.13^a	432.00 ± 8.02^b	432.33 ± 12.12^b	410.70 ± 10.68^b
Starch (mmol m⁻²)	41.35 ± 0.56^a	32.45 ± 1.43^b	32.19 ± 3.42^b	30.54 ± 2.04^b
Biomass (g Plant⁻¹)	5.03 ± 0.40^a	3.23 ± 0.22^b	3.14 ± 0.10^b	3.27 ± 0.23^b
Number of leaves (Plant⁻¹)	75.33 ± 2.90^a	58.67 ± 3.52^b	59.33 ± 4.37^b	55.00 ± 2.60^b
Number of siliques (Plant⁻¹)	23.00 ± 1.15^a	16.00 ± 1.15^b	17.33 ± 1.20^b	15.67 ± 1.45^b
Number of branches (Plant⁻¹)	5.67 ± 0.27^a	4.33 ± 0.27^b	4.33 ± 0.13^b	4.67 ± 0.13^b
Plant height (cm)	39.67 ± 1.20^a	35.67 ± 0.33^b	36.00 ± 1.31^b	33.33 ± 2.40^b

NC- the natural control plants that originated from C. roseus seeds that were not treated with any bacteriocide and fungicide and contained all the naturally occurring endophytes present in the plants.

C- the endophyte-free control plants that originated from C. roseus seeds treated with bactericides and fungicides and were thus devoid of any naturally occurring endophyte. Fv/Fm indicates the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis, A-Net CO₂ assimilation, E-Transpiration rate, gS-Stomatal conductance.

Values are the means of six biological replicates ± S.E. Values with different letters (a, b) are significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 (Duncan’s multiple range test).