TABLE 2.

Growth parameters of Eclipta prostrata inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi or not inoculated under non-stress and moderate and high saline conditions 4 and 8 weeks after inoculation (the salt stress experiment).

Treatment		Fresh root weight (g plant–1)		Fresh shoot weight (g plant–1)		Leaf number (leaf plant–1)		Plant height (cm plant–1)		Stem diameter (mm plant–1)		Leaf area (cm2 plant–1)
Stress conditions	Mycorrhizal inoculation	4 weeks	8 weeks	4 weeks	8 weeks	4 weeks	8 weeks	4 weeks	8 weeks	4 weeks	8 weeks	4 weeks	8 weeks
Non-stress	AMF-	1.17 ± 0.05ab	1.68 ± 0.56b	2.43 ± 0.42b	4.4 ± 0.7b	10.0 ± 1.5c	15.2 ± 1.5bc	11.3 ± 6.0a	24.6 ± 6.6ab	2.0 ± 0.3b	2.93 ± 0.2b	8.73 ± 0.7b	11.93 ± 2.8bc
	AMF +	1.68 ± 0.4a	2.95 ± 0.72a	4.02 ± 0.4a	9.9 ± 2.6a	18.9 ± 2.9a	31.5 ± 10.1a	13.7 ± 6.0a	25.5 ± 6.5a	3.4 ± 0.7a	4.31 ± 0.8a	15.85 ± 2.6a	23.81 ± 3.7a
100 mM NaCl	AMF-	0.53 ± 0.3bcd	0.15 ± 0.05c	0.99 ± 0.33cd	1.4 ± 0.1c	9.4 ± 0.4c	11.1 ± 1.5c	6.9 ± 2.2a	10.9 ± 3.0c	1.9 ± 0.1b	2.13 ± 0.1b	5.24 ± 0.8cd	7.63 ± 1.0c
	AMF +	0.78 ± 0.3bc	0.41 ± 0.06c	1.82 ± 0.6bc	2.7 ± 0.3b	15.8 ± 3.2ab	21.8 ± 3.7b	7.9 ± 2.1a	13.3 ± 2.2bc	2.4 ± 0.1ab	2.45 ± 0.1b	8.37 ± 0.6b	14.38 ± 3.7b
200 mM NaCl	AMF-	0.03 ± 0.00d	0.13 ± 0.02c	0.44 ± 0.1d	0.9 ± 0.4c	9.4 ± 0.5c	9.0 ± 1.7c	3.8 ± 0.5a	5.0 ± 0.6c	1.4 ± 0.2b	2.06 ± 0.4b	3.28 ± 0.6d	7.28 ± 1.5c
	AMF +	0.11 ± 0.02cd	0.19 ± 0.04c	0.66 ± 0.5cd	1.6 ± 0.6bc	12.8 ± 1.1bc	11.7 ± 0.3c	5.6 ± 0.7a	10.1 ± 2.1c	1.8 ± 0.3b	2.36 ± 0.4b	6.60 ± 0.5bc	9.15 ± 1.8bc
Source of variation (ns, not significant, *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001)
Mycorrhizal inoculation (M)		*	*	***	***	***	***	ns	ns	**	**	***	***
Salt stress (S)		***	***	***	***	**	**	*	***	***	***	***	***
M × S		ns	*	ns	**	*	ns	ns	ns	ns	Ns	*	*

The means ± standard deviation are presented (n = 5 for mycorrhizal colonization, n = 3 for other parameters). Different letters in each column indicates significant difference according to the Tukey test (P < 0.05) among treatments 4 and 8 weeks after inoculation. AMF, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; ns, non-significant difference.