Mitigation of osmotic stress by Serratia nematodiphila in tomato seedlings

Tiandra Silva Carvalho,Ana Carla Pinheiro Lima

doi:10.33448/rsd-v9i10.8694

Abstract

Agriculture is the main economic activity responsible for the highest rates of water consumption worldwide. Understanding strategies that combine decreasing the amount of water available and reducing the addition of chemical fertilizers is a major challenge today. Within this context, the work aimed to evaluate the efficiency in promoting growth in tomato seedlings, inoculated with Serratia nematodiphila, submitted to different water deficit conditions. The methodology consisted of using tomato seeds cv. Santa Clara Miss Brasil previously disinfected and inoculated with the Serratia nematodiphila bacterium. The experimental design was completely randomized in the factorial scheme 2 (with bacteria and without bacteria) x 3 (irrigation levels: 100%, 50% and 25% water), making a total of 6 treatments with 6 repetitions. When evaluating the effect of the bacteria Serratia nematodiphila in the treatment with irrigation to 25% of water, it was observed that the average values of the root length of the tomato seedlings was the one that suffered the most stimulus in the root growth when compared to the other irrigation levels. These results suggest that under conditions of greater water deficit the bacteria is able to mitigate drought by promoting root growth.

Highlights

Agriculture is the activity responsible for more than 70% of current water consumption worldwide (WWF Brasil, 2013)
The data found in the present study revealed that the root length of tomato seedlings submitted to inoculation of the bacteria S.nematodiphila (T2) does not have a significant effect when compared to the control (T1), under conditions of 100% water irrigation (Table 1)
When evaluating the effect of the bacterium Serratia nematodiphila in the treatment with irrigation to 25% of water, it was observed that the average values of the root length of the tomato seedlings was the one that most suffered the stimulus in the root growth, reaching 118,74 mm (T6 ) when compared to other levels of irrigation

Summary

Introduction

Agriculture is the activity responsible for more than 70% of current water consumption worldwide (WWF Brasil, 2013) For this reason, there are several proposals and strategies that have been studied to increase efficiency in the use of water by plants, in the search to find a balance between commercial activity and the environment. The productivity efficiency of these groups of microorganisms can be applied to the planting of crops, constituting an interesting alternative, to minimize the negative effects of the water deficit. Another strong point is the fact that these bacteria are native to soils or plants, not interfering with the ecological balance and, fully fitting into the reality of organic and sustainable agriculture (Lima et al, 2020). This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency in promoting growth in tomato seedlings, inoculated with Serratia nematodiphila, submitted to different water deficit conditions

Material and Methods

Results and Discussion

Final Considerations