Screening Pseudomonas fluorescens strains for plant growth promoting properties and salinity tolerance

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are a group of plant rhizosphere inhabitants bacteria which stimulate plant growth and increase host tolerance to environmental stresses using several mechanisms. Fluorescent pseudomonads are considered as the most important plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. The aim of this study is screening Pseudomonas fluorescens strains isolated from barley rhizosphere in Bushehr province for growth stimulating properties and tolerace to salt stre.
25 P. fluorscens strains were evaluated for growth stimulating properties including siderophore, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) production, inorganic phosphate solubilization and the ability to tolerate salinity levels (0, 200, 400 and 600 mM of sodium chloride) under in vitro conditions.
The results revealed that among the 25 strains studied, all were siderophore-producers (1.34-8.48 µM/ml) and 88% were able to produce HCN. The ability to solubilize mineral phosphate was observed in 88% of strains. Superior strains with PGP traits (B2-10, B4-6, B10, P68 and CHA0) were able to produce IAA (1.78-2.29 mg/ml). All strains were able to tolerate NaCl concentrations of 200-600 mM, however, their colony diameter decreased with increase in salinity levels.
Discussion and The current study showed that some P. fluorescens strains isolated from barley rhizosphere like B2-10, B4-6, B2-11 and B10, had plant growth-promoting characteristics and salt tolerance ability, so it can be concluded that these strains have the potential to be applied as useful microorganisms in bifertilizers to enhance plant growth under salt stress conditions.