Table 6.

Influence of T. asperellum on the antioxidant enzyme activities in the roots of maize seedlings in saline–alkaline soil (± SD).

Cultivars	Treatment	APX activity (U min−1 mg−1 proteing)	± Con%	MDHAR activity (U min−1 mg−1 proteing)	± Con%	DHAR activity (U min−1 mg−1 proteing)	± Con%	GR activity (U min−1 mg−1 proteing)	± Con%
XY335	Con	25.30 ± 2.34d	–	43.30 ± 1.83d	–	52.85 ± 3.56d	–	3.68 ± 1.40d	–
	T1	33.25 ± 5.37c	31.42	49.52 ± 1.43c	14.36	62.29 ± 2.57c	17.86	4.35 ± 1.25c	18.21
	T2	38.75 ± 2.46b	53.16	53.75 ± 1.06b	24.13	68.72 ± 2.15b	30.03	5.30 ± 2.01b	44.02
	T3	44.28 ± 2.44a	75.02	59.61 ± 1.39a	37.66	74.13 ± 1.78a	40.26	6.48 ± 1.31a	76.09
JY417	Con	30.47 ± 3.71d	–	47.20 ± 1.47d	–	56.66 ± 1.87d	–	4.95 ± 0.93d	–
	T1	35.67 ± 2.67c	17.07	51.67 ± 1.28c	9.47	64.42 ± 1.62c	13.70	5.34 ± 1.01c	7.88
	T2	42.73 ± 3.70b	40.24	57.39 ± 2.29b	21.59	71.36 ± 1.85b	25.94	6.43 ± 0.67b	29.90
	T3	50.94 ± 5.93a	67.18	63.44 ± 1.92a	34.41	78.73 ± 1.64a	38.95	7.84 ± 0.35a	58.38
	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. Antioxidant enzyme activities were measured on the 27th day after T. asperellum application. C and T indicated cultivars and treatments, respectively. Different letters within a column represented significant differences at 5% probability level, and the numerical value was the mean value 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.