Isolation, Screening and Molecular Characterization of Multifunctional Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria for a Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

The use of PGPR as a multifunctional biofertilizer or biostimulant is an alternative way to prevent soil pollution and preserve agricultural for sustainable economy. In this study, 102 bacterial strains were isolated from rhizospheric soil of different crop fields. Among them, 15 bacterial isolates rich of NPK were selected to screen for PGP activity. It was found that 4 out 15 isolates were able to fix atmospheric nitrogen, 14 could solubilize phosphate and 5 could solubilize potassium. They were further examined for the production of hydrolytic enzymes (amylase, cellulose, chitinase, etc.), plant hormone (IAA) and plant defense substances (HCN, siderophore, etc.). All PGPR isolates were able to produce IAA, siderophore and ammonia while 2 isolates could produce HCN. Among them, 73.33% of selected isolates produced amylase, 80% produced cellulase, 66.67% produced pectinase, 93.33% produced chitinase and β-glucanase. For salt stress tolerance, all the isolates grew well in 5% NaCl ...