Table 4.

Influence of T. asperellum on the root growth characteristic of maize seedlings rhizosphere soil (± SD).

Cultivars	Treatment	Root dry weight (g plant−1)	± Con%	Root relative water content (%)	± Con%	Root volume (cm3 plant−1)	± Con%	Root surface (m2 plant−1)	± Con%	Root activity (mg g−1 h−1)	± Con%
XY335	Con	0.05 ± 0.003c	–	81.89 ± 1.12d	–	17.37 ± 0.31d	–	9.58 ± 0.17d	–	10.72 ± 0.52c	–
	T1	0.06 ± 0.001b	18.00	84.78 ± 0.10c	3.53	27.29 ± 0.60c	57.11	15.01 ± 0.33c	56.68	14.30 ± 1.09b	33.40
	T2	0.07 ± 0.003b	32.00	86.88 ± 0.27b	6.09	30.95 ± 0.55b	78.18	17.02 ± 0.30b	77.66	15.50 ± 1.14b	44.59
	T3	0.08 ± 0.003a	58.01	89.25 ± 0.53a	8.99	34.47 ± 0.75a	98.45	18.96 ± 0.41a	97.91	20.06 ± 1.95a	87.13
JY417	Con	0.06 ± 0.005c	–	83.13 ± 1.11d	–	20.06 ± 1.56d	–	11.03 ± 0.86d	–	13.52 ± 0.36d	–
	T1	0.07 ± 0.004b	14.04	85.54 ± 0.99c	2.90	29.58 ± 0.84c	47.46	16.27 ± 0.46c	47.51	16.69 ± 0.91c	23.45
	T2	0.08 ± 0.003b	31.58	88.10 ± 0.40b	5.98	34.38 ± 1.08b	71.39	18.91 ± 0.59b	71.44	19.50 ± 1.26b	44.23
	T3	0.08 ± 0.002a	42.11	90.54 ± 0.13a	8.91	39.56 ± 0.95a	97.21	21.76 ± 0.52a	97.28	22.42 ± 2.33a	65.83
	ANOVA
	C	**		**		**		**		**
	T	**		**		**		**		**
	C × T	NS		NS		*		*		NS

Con, T1, T2, and T3 indicate 0, 1 × 10³, 1 × 10⁶, 1 × 10⁹ spores L⁻¹ suspension, respectively. Root growth characteristics were measured on the 27th day after T. asperellum application. C and T indicated cultivars and treatments, respectively. Different small letter within a column represented significant differences at 5% probability level, and the numerical value was the mean of five repeats. Differences between treatments were calculated for each particular cultivar. NS, not significant. * and **, significant at the 0.05 and 0.01 probability level, respectively.