Abstract

ABSTRACT Microorganisms play a vital role in maintaining soil fertility and plant health. They can act as biofertilizers and increase the resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. This study aimed at isolating and characterizing plant growth-promoting bacteria associated with sugarcane, as well as assessing their ability to promote plant growth. Endophytic bacteria from leaf, stem, root and rhizosphere were isolated from the RB 867515 commercial sugarcane variety and screened for indole acetic acid (IAA) production, ability to solubilize phosphate, fix nitrogen and produce hydrogen cyanide (HCN), ammonia and the enzymes pectinase, cellulase and chitinase. A total of 136 bacteria were isolated, with 83 of them presenting some plant growth mechanism: 47 % phosphate solubilizers, 26 % nitrogen fixers and 57 % producing IAA, 0.7 % HCN and chitinase, 45 % ammonia, 30 % cellulose and 8 % pectinase. The seven best isolates were tested for their ability to promote plant growth in maize. The isolates tested for plant growth promotion belong to the Enterobacteriaceae family and the Klebsiella, Enterobacter and Pantoea genera. Five isolates promoted plant growth in greenhouse experiments, showing potential as biofertilizers.

Highlights

  • Sugarcane, one of Brazil’s most important crops, is used primarily to produce sugar and ethanol

  • These data corroborate those reported by Silva et al (2012) and Leite et al (2014), who isolated bacteria in nonselective media and found a higher number of microorganisms from root, when compared to the rhizosphere

  • Our data indicate that the number of rhizobacteria was lower than the endophytes (Table 1)

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Summary

Introduction

One of Brazil’s most important crops, is used primarily to produce sugar and ethanol. The major challenge in agriculture is increasing crop yield with less environmental impact. Microorganisms associated with sugarcane play a vital role in maintaining soil fertility and plant health. Many of these mutualistic organisms can act as biofertilizers, increasing the efficiency of nutrient absorption by the plant and producing substances that promote growth. It is estimated that biofertilizers could reduce the use of common fertilizers by 50 % with no yield losses (Pereg & McMillan 2015, Suman et al 2016), in addition to increasing tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses by promoting biological control (Babalola 2010)

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