Isolation and identification of halophilic bacteria from saline soils and their effect on salinity tolerance at wheat seedling stage

This study was performed to find halophilic bacteria that have the ability to increase salinity resistance in wheat seedlings, so that any type of wheat cultivar can be grown in saline areas by inoculation with these bacteria without the need for genetic manipulation.A number of highly saline farm soils from several areas around Tabriz and Urmia Lake were screened to isolate bacterial isolates. A total of six highly halophilic isolates were isolated for the study. The effect of bacteria on salinity tolerance in wheat was determined as a factorial of two factors (salinity and bacteria) based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The effect of six bacterial isolates at three high concentrations of salt (NaCl) (0.5, 1 and 1.5%) on wheat seed growth under standard laboratory conditions for four weeks was evaluated. Two bacterial isolates that had the best performance - in most growth indices such as fresh and dry size and weight of roots and stems - were selected and their effect was assayed under greenhouse conditions. Finally, the best bacteria in terms of function were selected and identified by molecular methodsFrom the six highly halophilic bacterial isolates, two bacteria were selected for greenhouse studies, one of which, caused a 50% increase in most growth factors, was selected for identification. Molecular identification based on barcoding 16S rDNA region showed that this bacterium belongs to Oceanbacillus picturae with 99% probability.This is the first report of the presence of Oceanbacillus picturae in the soils of