Biomining Sesuvium portulacastrum for halotolerant PGPR and endophytes for promotion of salt tolerance in Vigna mungo L

• Published in: Frontiers in microbiology 2023-02, Vol.14, p.1085787-1085787
• Main Authors: John, Joseph Ezra, Maheswari, Muthunalliappan, Kalaiselvi, Thangavel, Prasanthrajan, Mohan, Poornachandhra, Chidamparam, Rakesh, Srirangarayan Subramanian, Gopalakrishnan, Boopathi, Davamani, Veeraswamy, Kokiladevi, Eswaran, Ranjith, Sellappan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ACC deaminase; crop improvement; endophytes; Halophyte; Microbiology; rhizobacteria; salt tolerance
• ISSN: 1664-302X; 1664-302X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1085787

Halophytic plants can tolerate a high level of salinity through several morphological and physiological adaptations along with the presence of salt tolerant rhizo-microbiome. These microbes release phytohormones which aid in alleviating salinity stress and improve nutrient availability. The isolation and identification of such halophilic PGPRs can be useful in developing bio-inoculants for improving the salt tolerance and productivity of non-halophytic plants under saline conditions. In this study, salt-tolerant bacteria with multiple plant growth promoting characteristics were isolated from the rhizosphere of a predominant halophyte, grown in the coastal and paper mill effluent irrigated soils. Among the isolates, nine halotolerant rhizobacterial strains that were able to grow profusely at a salinity level of 5% NaCl were screened. These isolates were found to have multiple plant growth promoting (PGP) traits, especially 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid deaminase activity (0.32-1.18  μM of α-ketobutyrate released mg of protein h ) and indole acetic acid (9.4-22.8  μg mL ). The halotolerant PGPR inoculation had the potential to improve salt tolerance in L. which was reflected in significantly (