Evaluation of Water Stress Resilient Endophytic Bacteria for Seed Vigor Index and Antagonistic activity in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Author: Uma Sowjanya Moturu*, Trimurtulu Nunna, Vijaya Gopal Avula, Venkata Ramana Jagarlamudi, Rama Rao Gutha and Sreelatha Thamminana

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Abstract

For maize productivity water deficit stress is the major abiotic limitation and disease is one of the major biotic stresses that declines crop yield and furthermore deteriorate the quality of product that ultimately affects the market cost. Plants are more contingent on microorganisms which are capable to enhance their metabolic activity to combat stress. Thus, present study was aimed to screen maize endophytic bacteria for their osmotolerance and antagonistic activity in in vitro conditions. The endophytes with less per cent of decreased growth at all treated water potential (-0.05, -0.65, - 1.57, -2.17 and -2.70 MPa) in nutrient agar supplemented with PEG 6000 are found to be Kosakonia radicincitans (NL3E3), Priestia aryabhattai (PL3E2) and Bacillus licheniformis (VaR3E1). The maximum antagonistic activity against pathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia solani was shown by the bacterial isolates K. radicincitans (96%) and P. aeruginosa (96%), against Fusarium oxysporium 92% of mycel

Keywords

Endophytic bacteria, Osmotolerance, Antagonistic activity, Seed vigor

Conclusion

To cope with the biotic and abiotic stress against plant growth various approaches have been under consideration including plant-microbe interactions. The endophytic bacteria with less per cent of decreased growth at all treated water potential are found to be Kosakonia radicincitans, Priestia aryabhattai and Bacillus licheniformis. For all the three (Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporium and Exserohilum turcicum) tested pathogenic fungi Bacillus licheniformis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were found to inhibit the fungal mycelium growth at high rate. And many isolates have improved seedling growth and germination percentage significantly. From our in vitro results, we can conclude that plants may survive and grow even under moisture deficit stress and biotic stress as endophytes have adapted to function in effective way under stress conditions. But it has become essential to evaluate true efficiency of isolates under stressed environment. Thus, influence of isolates under field conditi

References

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How to cite this article

Moturu, U.S., Nunna, T., Avula, V.G., Jagarlamudi, V.R., Gutha, R.R. and Tamminana, S. (2021). Evaluation of Water Stress Resilient Endophytic Bacteria for Seed Vigor Index and Antagonistic Activity in Maize (Zea mays L.). Biological Forum – An Internat