AUTHOR=Patani Anil , Prajapati Dharmendra , Ali Daoud , Kalasariya Haresh , Yadav Virendra Kumar , Tank Jigna , Bagatharia Snehal , Joshi Madhvi , Patel Ashish 

TITLE=Evaluation of the growth-inducing efficacy of various Bacillus species on the salt-stressed tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1168155

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2023.1168155

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Plants are affected by salt stress in a variety of ways, including water deficiency, ion toxicity, nutrient imbalance, and oxidative stress, all of which can cause cellular damage or plant death. Halotolerant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) could be a viable alternative for tomato plants growing in arid and semi-arid environments. The aim of this research was to isolate halotolerant plant growth promoting <italic>Bacillus</italic> sp. to promote tomato (<italic>Lycopersicon esculentum</italic> Mill.) growth and salt stress resistance. 107 PGPR strains were isolated from the rhizospheres of ‘Kesudo’ (<italic>Butea monosperma</italic> Lam.), ‘Kawaria’ (<italic>Cassia tora</italic> L.), and ‘Arjun’ (<italic>Terminalia arjuna</italic> Roxb.) plants to test their plant growth promoting abilities, including indole-3-acetic acid, phosphate solubilization, siderophore production, and ACC deaminase activity. Five bacterial strains (<italic>Bacillus pumilus</italic> (NCT4), <italic>Bacillus firmus</italic> (NCT1), <italic>Bacillus licheniformis</italic> (LCT4), <italic>Bacillus cereus</italic> (LAT3), and <italic>Bacillus safensis</italic> (LBM4)) were chosen for 16S rRNA on the basis of PGPR traits. Compared to PGPR untreated plants, tomato plants developed from PGPR-treated seeds had considerably increased germination percentage, seedling growth, plant height, dry weight, and leaf area. As comparison to PGPR non-inoculated plants, salt-stressed tomato plants treated with PGPR strains had higher levels of total soluble sugar, proline, and chlorophyll as well as higher levels of SOD, CAT, APX, and GR activity. PGPR-inoculated salt-stressed tomato plants had lower MDA, sodium, and chloride levels than non-inoculated plants. In addition, magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and iron levels were higher in PGPR treated plants when subjected to salt stress. These results indicate that halotolerant PGPR strains can increase tomato productivity and tolerance to salt stress by removing salt stress’s negative effects on plant growth.</p>