Origanum syriacum ssp. sinaicum associated Growth Promoting Bacteria

Abstract

Plant growth promoting bacteria have several applications in agriculture as they could be used as bio-fertilizers and/or bio-control agents. Isolation, characterization and identification of Origanum syriacum ssp. sinaicum associated growth promoting bacteria was the aim of this study as Origanum is one of the most important wild endemic medicinal plants in Egypt. Out of 268 bacterial isolates whether rhizospheric or endophytic obtained firstly, the initial test for the production of gibberellic acid led to a reduction of this number to be 25. The nitrogenase activity was the second potential test by which 4 isolates were finally selected and tested for further plant growth promoting characteristics. 16S rRNA analysis identified two of them to be Serratia sp. (Serratia SK3 and Serratia SK1a) and the other two to be Bacillus sp. (Bacillus SK1 and Bacillus SK2). The current investigation represents four local bacterial strains that could be used to enhance the growth of the commercially grown and widely used Origanum syriacum ssp. sinaicum in Egypt.