Screening for Multifarious Plant Growth Promoting and Biocontrol Attributes in <i>Bacillus</i> Strains Isolated from Indo Gangetic Soil for Enhancing Growth of Rice Crops

oleh: Shikha Devi, Shivesh Sharma, Ashish Tiwari, Arvind Kumar Bhatt, Nand Kumar Singh, Monika Singh, Kaushalendra, Ajay Kumar

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-04-01

Deskripsi

Multifarious plant growth-promoting <i>Bacillus</i> strains recovered from rhizospheric soils of the Indo Gangetic plains (IGPs) were identified as <i>Bacillus licheniformis</i> MNNITSR2 and <i>Bacillus velezensis</i> MNNITSR18 based on their biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA gene analysis. Both strains exhibited the ability to produce IAA, siderophores, ammonia, lytic enzymes, HCN production, and phosphate solubilization capability and strongly inhibited the growth of phytopathogens such as <i>Rhizoctonia solani</i> and <i>Fusariun oxysporum</i> in vitro. In addition, these strains are also able to grow at a high temperature of 50 °C and tolerate up to 10–15% NaCl and 25% PEG 6000. The results of the pot experiment showed that individual seed inoculation and the coinoculation of multifarious plant growth promoting (PGP) <i>Bacillus</i> strains (SR2 and SR18) in rice fields significantly enhanced plant height, root length volume, tiller numbers, dry weight, and yield compared to the untreated control. This indicates that these strains are potential candidates for use as PGP inoculants/biofertilizers to increase rice productivity under field conditions for IGPs in Uttar Pradesh, India.