20 Central Asian Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Innovation 1 (2021) 20–35 Symbiosis of AMF with growth modulation and antioxidant capacity of Caucasian Hackberry (Celtis Caucasica L.) seedlings under drought stress Tooba Sepahvand 1 *, Vahid Etemad 1 , Mohammad Matinizadeh 2 , Anoshirvan Shirvany 1 1 Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran 2 Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran Highlights Graphical Abstract Article Info Abstract * Corresponding author: t.sepahvand@ut.ac.ir (T. Sepahvand) RESEARCH PAPER • Arbuscular Mycorrhiza fungi had significant impact on plant growth parameters. • Mycorrhiza symbiosis illustrate positive effect on plant tolerance to water deficiencies. • Symbiosis decreased H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in leaves, while the activity of antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase raised in the host mycorrhiza-inoculated seedlings. Beside climate changes, drought stress has become a serious limitated factor for plant production and seedling growth. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) symbiosis has proposed to improve the growth and water efficiency under limited- water condition. For this purpose, Caucasian Hackberry (Celtis Caucasica L.) seedlings inoculate with mycorrhizal fungi Rhizophagus intraradices and Funneliformis mosseae under well-watered and water deficient conditions. The mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal seedlings were treated under 75 % FC (as control), 50 and 25 % FC for 90-days. The Result showed that the plant growth parameters dry shoot weight, leaf area, seedling height, dry root weight, length of root, number of secondary root, and chlorophyll content were greater in mycorrhizal seedlings in comparison with non-inoculated seedlings under normal irrigation and drought treatments. AMF symbiosis decreased H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in leaves. The positive correlation was observed between colonization rate and plant growth as well as antioxidant enzymes activity, remarkably. These results suggest that AMF symbiosis is a potential tool to alleviating the detriment created by drought stress on young seedling by elevating plant growth, reducing membrane lipid peroxidation, raising cell wall stability and increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes. © 2020 Published by CAS-Press. Receive Date: 30 December 2020 Revise Date: 01 February 2021 Accept Date: 12 February 2021 Available online: 17 February 2021 Keywords: Environmental stress Caucasian Hackberry Arbuscular mycorrhiza Plant growth Antioxidant enzymes Drought stress 10.22034/CAJESTI.2021.01.03 E-ISSN: 2717-0519 P-ISSN: 2717-4034