| Popis: |
Salinity is one of the most crucial stressors that restrain crop productivity. Endophytes with 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase activity possess the potential to ameliorate salt stress in plants by degrading the precursor molecule of ethylene, ACC, whose concentration is elevated in salt-stressed plants. The present investigation reports the efficiency of salt-tolerant endophyte Bacillus aryabhattai EWR29 exhibiting ACC deaminase activity as bioinoculant to improve the growth of the wheat plant under salinity stress conditions. The strain EWR29 manifested multifarious plant growth-promoting traits including, phosphate solubilization, and production of indole acetic acid (IAA), siderophore, HCN, and exopolysaccharides (EPS). Besides, it endures salinity (12%) and, drought stresses (−0.49 MPa) and showed a strong biofilm-formation potential. Moreover, acdS gene coding for ACC deaminase was sequenced and characterized at the molecular level. Inoculation of wheat plants with B. aryabhattai EWR29 alleviated the negative effects of salinity stress and promoted significant increases in growth criteria compared with un-inoculated plants grown at the same salinity levels. The bioinoculant induced up-regulation of the antioxidant enzymes peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and decreased proline content in treated plants indicating the mitigation of salt effect. The results indicated the potential used of B. aryabhattai EWR29 as bioinoculant to enhance the growth of wheat plants cultivated in salt-affected agriculture fields and alleviate salt stress |
