Abstract:
Bacteria surrounding plant roots and providing a stimulatory effect to
the plants are termed Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR).
They are highly beneficial microorganisms which can be utilized to
enhance plant responses against biotic and abiotic stresses. The present
study involves the isolation of thirty five isolates from the rhizosphere
of groundnut plants from Jodia (or Jodiya) Gujarat. The isolates were
screened for salinity tolerance and observed that all were able to grow
upto 6% NaCl and twenty two isolates had shown growth upto 12%
NaCl concentration. All the isolates were further screened for Plant
growth promoting traits out of which PGPR J9 exhibited all traits
including hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, siderophore, chitinase, indole
acetic acid production, phosphate solubilization and nitrogen fixation
positive. The isolate J9 was further used for pot experiment and showed
augmentation in growth of physical parameters (shoot length, root
length, dry weight, wet weight, number of leaves, number of stems, leaf
area) of plant under salt stress and without salt stress (100mM) with
reference to controls. Thus this isolate may reduce the use of chemical
fertilizer and give input in enhancing the growth of plant in salt stress.
