Efficiency of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria Isolated from Sand Dunes of Chennai Coastal Area

Abstract

Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) are beneficial bacteria that colonize the plant root and enhance the plant growth. The use of PGPR is steadily increasing in agriculture and offers an attractive way to replace chemical fertilizers, pesticides and supplements. In the present study, PGPR were isolated from 18 different rhizosphere soil samples of coastal sand dune plants, belonging to the genus Ipomoea sp. collected from the Chennai coastal area. For isolation of bacteria from soil samples, pour plate technique was followed. The rhizobacterial population was ranged from 4.4 x 10(6)-7.5 x 10(7) CFU g(-1). From that, 46 morphologically different bacterial strains were isolated. Among 46, 18 strains exhibited the production of Indole Acetic Acid. (IAA). When screened for phosphate solubilzing activity, six strains showed maximum activity. All these selected six strains were screened for seed germination among which these two strains (AMET1136 and AMET 1148) showed remarkable increase in the seed germination of black gram and green gram. For plant growth promotion, three types of treatments namely, seed bacterization, soil drenching and mixed (seed+soil) were carried out to check the potential of these two strains. Among that one strain which was identified as Pseudomonas sp. AMET1148 showed remarkable and significant increase in shoot length and root length of the tested plants. The study concluded that PGPR from coastal sand dund plants can be developed as plant growth promoters in agricultural crops.