ANNOUNCEMENTS
One of the major environmental stress factors which contributes towards growing threat to global agriculture and food security is soil salinization. It is therefore, imperative to understand the plant’s adaptive mechanism towards salinity stress. Plant growth-promoting bacteria residing in the rhizosphere of plants are one of the major contributors towards this resilience. The aim of this study therefore was to investigate salt-tolerant plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) as a solution for salt-affected soils. PGPB were isolated from rhizospheric soil and nodules of mung bean (Vigna radiata). Three promising strains (TERI ASA, TERI ASP, TERI ASJ) were screened and identified for key plant-growth traits i.e. indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production, zinc and phosphate solubilization, and ammonia release. Both these individual strains and their consortium (TERI ASAPJ) were assessed for salt tolerance and plant-growth promotion. In addition, a hydroponic study was also conducted with barley (Hordeum vulgare), in which the consortium TERI ASPJ produced the maximum shoot and root growth under 4% NaCl concentration. Biofilm formation revealed that TERI ASAPJ consortium was a statistically significant strong biofilm former. These findings indicate that co-inoculation of complementary PGPB strains can enhance plant resilience to salinity more effectively. Overall, the results support the potential of targeted PGPB consortia as sustainable bioinoculants for rehabilitating salt-affected soils and improving crop productivity under saline conditions. However, further soil-based experiments with this selected bacterial consortium are essential to validate its potential as a PGPB consortia and to accurately assess its effectiveness under saline conditions.
Keywords: Plant growth-promoting bacteria, Salinity Stress, Bioremediation, Biofilm, Sustainable bioinoculants.
