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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1461949

Bacillus cereus CGMCC 1.60196: a promising bacterial inoculant isolated from biological soil crusts for maize growth enhancement

Provisionally accepted
Lina Zhao Lina Zhao Chenrui Kang Chenrui Kang Shipeng Zhang Shipeng Zhang Linlin Cui Linlin Cui Shuaihua Xu Shuaihua Xu Yudong Wang Yudong Wang Yue Zhang Yue Zhang Gu Shaobin Gu Shaobin *
  • Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Soil microbial inoculants are widely recognized as an environmentally friendly strategy for promoting crop growth and increasing productivity. However, research on utilizing the microbial resources from desert biological soil crusts to enhance crop growth remains relatively unexplored.In the present work, a bacterial strain designated AC1-8 with high levels of amylase, protease, and cellulase activity was isolated from cyanobacterial crusts of the Tengger Desert and identified as Bacillus cereus (CGMCC 1.60196). The refinement of the fermentation parameters of B. cereus CGMCC 1.60196 determined that the most effective medium for biomass production was composed of 5 g/L glucose, 22 g/L yeast extract and 15 g/L MgSO4, and the optimal culture conditions were pH 6.0, temperature 37°C, inoculation quantity 3% and agitation speed 240 rpm.Furthermore, the utilization of B. cereus CGMCC 1.60196 has resulted in substantial improvements in various growth parameters of maize seedlings, including shoot length, shoot fresh and dry weights, root fresh and dry weights, and the contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll. The most pronounced growth promotion was observed at an application concentration of 1×10 9 CFU/m 2 . These results suggest that the novel B. cereus strain, isolated from cyanobacterial crusts, can be regarded as an exemplary biological agent for soil improvement, capable of enhancing soil conditions, promoting crop cultivation and supporting food production.

    Keywords: Bacillus cereus, carbon degradation, cyanobacterial crusts, extracellular hydrolase activity, plant growth-promoting bacteria, Response Surface Methodology

    Received: 18 Jul 2024; Accepted: 29 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhao, Kang, Zhang, Cui, Xu, Wang, Zhang and Shaobin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gu Shaobin, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China

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