Unveiling the potential of Bacillus safensis PG-54 isolated from fermented panchagavya on Sorghum bicolor under salinity stress

Abstract

16 Salinity stress in soil arises when high salt levels, especially sodium chloride, hinder plant 17 growth by disrupting water and nutrient uptake. Panchagavya is a fermented preparation made 18 up of five cow products (milk, dung, urine, curd, and ghee) used in natural farming. Bacillus 19 safensis PG-54 was isolated from fermented panchagvaya and tested for their salt tolerance and 20 plant growth promoting abilities. All the experiments were done in the presence of 1.4% NaCl 21 along with control. It showed plant growth-promoting activities like indole-acetic acid 22 production (73.98 μg/ml), giberellic acid production (3.44 mg/ml), ammonia production (37.53 23 μmol/ml), phosphate solubilization (88.76 μg/ml), and exopolysaccharide production (1.33 24 g/L). The seed germination experiment showed 87% and 113.1 germination percent and seed 25 vigour index, respectively. The pot study was done using the sorghum plant in salinity stress 26 and physico-vegetative parameters were analysed after 15 and 25 days. The plant showed better 27 root length (6.01 times), shoot length (1.37 times) leaf length (1.71 times), wet weight (1.17 28 times), and dry weight (1.73 times) in salinity stress with PG-54. It also showed improved 29 biochemical parameters like chlorophyll content (4.41, 9.54 mg/gm tissue), total protein 30 content (0.733, 0.823 μg/ml), total sugar content (0.777, 1.914 μg/ml), total phenolic content