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Rice Plants Grown With and Without Endophytes

Detailed Description

These rice plants show the difference in growth of rice plants exposed to salt when grown with and without endophytes, which are mutually beneficial microscopic fungi that live in most plants. The plant on the left was colonized with a fungi that made it salt-tolerant, but it wasn't exposed to salt; the plant in the middle was colonized with a fungi that made it more salt-tolerant, and it was exposed to salt; and the plant on the right was the normal rice variety without the fungi and exposed to salt. The difference is dramatic.

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.