Phytochemical and Morphological Responses of Atropa (Atropa belladonna L.) to PGPR under Greenhouse Conditions

Atropine and scopolamine are important alkaloids that are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Determination of the effects of PGPR (Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) on phytochemical and morpho-physiological traits of Atropa belladonna L. under greenhouse conditions.

This study was done as a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. PGPR in four levels including control or no inoculation, Pseudomonas, Azotobacter, Pseudomonas + Azotobacter and Thiobacillus + Sulfur as the first factor, and also chemical fertilizer at three levels including no fertilizer, 50% recommended fertilizer and 100% recommended fertilizer as second factor were used.

The PGPR and chemical fertilizer and their interactions had significant effect
(P ≤ 0.01) on phytochemical and morpho-physiological traits. The highest values of root volume, root diameter and root dry weight were obtained from treatment of Azotobacter with 50% recommended fertilizer. The highest atropine and scopolamine levels of leaf (19.58 and 7.77 mg/g, respectively) were observed in no bacteria inoculation with 50% chemical fertilizer. The highest root atropine content was 7.69 mg/g which related to treatment of Thiobacillus + sulfur with 100% recommended fertilizer. The highest content of root scopolamine (5.69 mg/g) was observed in treatment of no bacteria inoculation with 50% recommended fertilizer.

Generally, the results showed that PGPRs (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) improved the quantitative and qualitative performance of A. belladonna.