Growth promotion of the rice genotypes by pgprs isolated from rice rhizosphere

Abstract

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) improve growth of the host plants in a variety of ways. For this reason five bacterial strains isolated form the rice rhizospheric soil (B 15, B 17, B 19, BN 17 and BN 30) and three standard PGPR strains (viz. Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Azospirillum lipoferum) were tested for plant growth promotion when applied to the rice plants as seedling treatments. The experiment was conducted for two rainy seasons of the years 2010 and 2011. Rice plants inoculated with the bacterial isolates recorded an improved plant growth and higher photosynthetic capacity signified by the higher chlorophyll content. Root and shoot dry mass was also found to be increased in the inoculated plants. Besides these iron and zinc content of the treated rice plants was also found to be higher in comparison with the uninoculated control plants. Hence, it can be concluded that application of PGPR has immense potential to be used as agricultural crop inoculants as they promote plant growth as well as improve the health and yield of the plants.