Effect of foliar application of DSE fungal solution on growth of Morus alba and its prospects of ecological restoration application

Microbial reclamation technology has been widely used in the ecological restoration of western arid and semi-arid coal mining areas. Convenient application of microbial agent has important significance for improving the efficiency of ecological management in coal-mining subsidence. Herein, this study tested with Morus alba as the study object, and the dark septate endophyte (DSE) as the test fungus. using a greenhouse pot experiment with three treatments, which including the root inoculation of DSE fungus (GXZR), foliar application of DSE fungus (YMTM) and control Morus alba (CK), this study investigated the effects of different inoculation methods on the growth of Morus alba and its ecological restoration prospects. The results show that: (1) Compared with CK, both YMTM and GXZR treatments could significantly increase the aboveground biomass of Morus alba by 1.9 to 3.3 times. (2) YMTM treatment also significantly increases the adsorption of Morus alba to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus by 164.8%, 177.7% and 113.6% respectively, while the GXZR treatment has them increased by 121.8%, 132.4% and 28.7% respectively. (3) The relative forage value of Morus alba subjected to YMTM and GXZR treatment is significantly increased by 1.04 and 1.07 times respectively. These results indicate that YMTM could promote the uptake of soil carbon and nitrogen by Morus alba, resulting in a significant increase in plant height, crown size, and root and leaf biomass of Morus alba as well. Further, it realized a strong effect of carbon sink. Moreover, the YMTM could make DSE colonize the leaves of Morus alba rapidly, which has the characteristics of fast nutrient uptake, high utilization rate and quick effect. Therefore, YMTM could be applied as a new microbial fertilizer application method in the ecological restoration of mining areas, thus providing technical support for land reclamation and ecological restoration in coal mining areas.