Seed Biopriming with Endophytic Pseudomonas putida and Serratia proteamaculans Consortium Enhanced Growth, Nutrient Content and Yield of Rapeseed-Mustard
摘要
The present study aimed at developing a bacterial consortium for enhanced growth, yield and nutrient content of rapeseed-mustard. Fifty morphologically distinct bacteria were obtained from leaves, stem, roots and rhizosphere of rapeseed-mustard collected from Punjab, India exhibited phosphate solubilization ranging from 20.6 to 160.6 μg/ml in liquid medium. Thirty-one isolates showed zinc solubilization and siderophore production. All the isolates were positive for auxin and ammonia production but negative for hydrogen cyanide production. Fourteen isolates were able to exhibit luxuriant growth on three media without any nitrogen source. The bacterial treatments in pots showed significant improvement in plant growth, chlorophyll content, and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents in both plants and soil compared to the control treatment. Two isolates showing the highest growth-promoting activity were identified as Pseudomonas putida MLE8 and Serratia proteamaculans MRE2 by MALDI-TOF-MS and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The consortium of P. putida MLE8 and S. proteamaculans MRE2 (PpMLE8 + SpMRE2) improved the growth, yield attributes, oil content, yield, shoot nutrient content and available N, P and K content of soil in the fields of B. juncea var. PBR 357 during 2020–21 and B. napus var. GSC 6 during 2021–22. The application of bacterial consortium with 100% RDF improved the seed and oil yield of Brassica napus var. GSC 7 by 11.8% and 12%, respectively, during 2022–23 and seed yield by 6.4% during 2023–24 with increased mean net returns by Rs 13,137/ha and B:C ratio by 0.28 in comparison to uninoculated control treatment.