Silicon and Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria Pseudomonas psychrotolerans CS51 Mitigates Salt Stress in Zea mays L

Happy Anita Appiah Kubi, Muhammad Aaqil Khan, Arjun Adhikari, Muhammad Imran, Sang-Mo Kang, Muhammad Hamayun and In-Jung Lee
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Happy Anita Appiah Kubi: Department of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Muhammad Aaqil Khan: Department of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Arjun Adhikari: Department of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Muhammad Imran: Department of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Sang-Mo Kang: Department of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Muhammad Hamayun: Department of Botany, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 23200, Pakistan
In-Jung Lee: Department of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Salinity is a significant abiotic stress for crop plants and a threat to global food security. Optimizing yield without adversely affecting the ecosystem is necessary for a sustainable agriculture. Silicon and plant growth-promoting bacteria were reported for mitigating several abiotic and biotic stress in plants. In our study, we identified the salt-tolerant rhizobacterium Pseudomonas psychrotolerans CS51. This species produces several plant-growth-promoting biochemicals like indole-3-acetic acid (33 ± 1.8 ng/mL) and gibberellic acid (GA3; 38 ± 1.3 and GA4; 23 ± 1.2 ng/mL) in Luria-Bertani(LB) media, and LB media spiked with 200 mM NaCl (indole-3-acetic acid(IAA); 17.6 ± 0.4 ng/mL, GA3; 21 ± 0.9 and GA4; 19 ± 1.0 ng/mL). In the current study, we aimed to investigate the effect of isolate CS51 and exogenous silicon (3 mM) on maize under salinity stress (200 mM). Our results showed that the sole application of isolate CS51, Si, and combined CS51 + Si significantly enhanced maize biomass and chlorophyll content under normal and salinity stress. Phytohormonal results showed that salinity stress increased abscisic acid (ABA; three folds) and jasmonic acid (JA; 49.20%). However, the sole and combined isolate CS51 + Si application markedly reduced ABA (1.5 folds) and JA content (14.89%). Besides, the sole and isolate CS51 + Si co-application strengthened the antioxidant system, such as flavonoid (97%) and polyphenol (19.64%), and lowered the proline content (57.69%) under NaCl stress. Similarly, the CS51 and Si inoculation (solely or combined) significantly enhanced the Si uptake (4 folds) and reduced the Na + uptake (42.30%) in maize plants under NaCl stress. In conclusion, the current finding suggests that combining CS51 with Si can be used against salinity stress in maize plants and may be commercialized as a biofertilizer.

Keywords: salinity stress; isolate CS51 + Si; phytohormones; antioxidants regulation; maize (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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