Abstract
Water stress decreases the health and quality of horticulture crops by inhibiting photosynthesis, transpiration, and nutrient uptake. Application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can increase the growth, stress tolerance, and overall quality of field and greenhouse grown crops subjected to water stress. Here, we evaluated Serratia plymuthica MBSA-MJ1 for its ability to increase plant growth and quality of Petunia × hybrida (petunia), Impatiens walleriana (impatiens), and Viola × wittrockiana (pansy) plants recovering from severe water stress. Plants were treated weekly with inoculum of MBSA-MJ1, and plant growth and quality were evaluated 2 weeks after recovery from water stress. Application of S. plymuthica MBSA-MJ1 increased the visual quality and shoot biomass of petunia and impatiens and increased the flower number of petunia after recovery from water stress. In addition, in vitro characterizations showed that MBSA-MJ1 is a motile bacterium with moderate levels of antibiotic resistance that can withstand osmotic stress. Further, comprehensive genomic analyses identified genes putatively involved in bacterial osmotic and oxidative stress responses and the synthesis of osmoprotectants and vitamins that could potentially be involved in increasing plant water stress tolerance. This work provides a better understanding of potential mechanisms involved in beneficial plant-microbe interactions under abiotic stress using a novel S. plymuthica strain as a model.
Highlights
Abiotic stresses negatively impact a multitude of biochemical and physiological responses in crops, reducing plant growth, performance, and quality (Anjum et al, 2017; Nordstedt et al, 2020)
We present experiments evaluating the growth promoting effects of MBSA-MJ1 on petunia, impatiens, and pansy by assessing growth and flowering after plants were subjected to severe water stress
The greatest effect was observed with petunia, which had an average increase of 45% compared to the uninoculated control plants after recovery from severe water stress
Summary
Abiotic stresses negatively impact a multitude of biochemical and physiological responses in crops, reducing plant growth, performance, and quality (Anjum et al, 2017; Nordstedt et al, 2020). In particular, can permanently damage the photosynthetic health of plants, leading to a reduction in plant size and yield (Armitage et al, 1983; Zargar et al, 2017; Liang et al, 2020; Nordstedt and Jones, 2020). The negative impact of water stress on the yield of food crops is well-documented, water stress can decrease the quality of high-value ornamental crops grown in containers, which are more prone to rapid fluxes in water availability (Nordstedt et al, 2020). In addition to reducing the appearance of these high-value crops, damage to photosynthetic health can lead to reduced transplant success and plant vigor in the customer’s garden (Armitage et al, 1983; Sun et al, 2020)
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