{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T10:09:03Z","timestamp":1788602943382,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,31]],"date-time":"2021-12-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1640908800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003407","name":"Ministry of Education, Universities and Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PROSPECT 2017JLN833"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PROSPECT 2017JLN833"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100001239","name":"MISE","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Sportello Agrifood DM 5\/3\/2018 (Grant VIABIO)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Sportello Agrifood DM 5\/3\/2018 (Grant VIABIO)"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100001239","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Biofortification of crops via agricultural interventions represents an excellent way to supply micronutrients in poor rural populations, who highly suffer from these deficiencies. Soil microbes can directly influence plant growth and productivity, e.g., by contrasting plant pathogens or facilitating micronutrient assimilation in harvested crop-food products. Among these microbial communities, Trichoderma fungi are well-known examples of plant symbionts widely used in agriculture as biofertilizers or biocontrol agents. In this work, eleven Trichoderma strains and\/or their bioactive metabolites (BAMs) were applied to lentil plants to evaluate their effects on plant growth and mineral content in greenhouse or field experiments. Our results indicated that, depending upon the different combinations of fungal strain and\/or BAM, the mode of treatment (seed and\/or watering), as well as the supplementary watering with solutions of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), the mineral absorption was differentially affected in treated plants compared with the water controls. In greenhouse conditions, the largest increase in Fe and Zn contents occurred when the compounds were applied to the seeds and the strains (in particular, T. afroharzianum T22, T. harzianum TH1, and T. virens GV41) to the soil. In field experiments, Fe and Zn contents increased in plants treated with T. asperellum strain KV906 or the hydrophobin HYTLO1 compared with controls. Both selected fungal strains and BAMs applications improved seed germination and crop yield. This biotechnology may represent an important challenge for natural biofortification of crops, thus reducing the risk of nutrient deficiencies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms10010087","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,7]],"date-time":"2022-01-07T03:46:27Z","timestamp":1641527187000},"page":"87","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":34,"title":["Mineral Biofortification and Growth Stimulation of Lentil Plants Inoculated with Trichoderma Strains and Metabolites"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2110-7539","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberta","family":"Marra","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici, Italy"},{"name":"Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology (BAT Center), University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9195-8470","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nadia","family":"Lombardi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici, Italy"},{"name":"Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology (BAT Center), University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Piccolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici, Italy"},{"name":"Interdepartmental Research Centre on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for the Environment, Agro-Food and New Materials (CERMANU), University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Navid","family":"Bazghaleh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N5A8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pratibha","family":"Prashar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N5A8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6177-1392","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Albert","family":"Vandenberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N5A8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8611-6140","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sheridan","family":"Woo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology (BAT Center), University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"National Research Council, Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, 80055 Portici, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (2017). 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