Preliminary screening of rhizobacteria for biocontrol of little seed canary grass ( Retz.) and wild oat ( L.) in wheat.

Conventional weed control methods often have environmental impact. The present study was conducted to screen selected accessions of for both potential biocontrol of and and potential concurrent growth promotion of wheat. The four strains (B11, T19, T24, and T75) were found positive for cyanide production, siderophore production, phosphorus solubilization, oxidase activity, catalase activity, and ACC deaminase activity in vitro. These strains were phytotoxic, causing up to 73.3% mortality in the lettuce seedling bioassay. Consortia of compatible strains increased and seedling mortality up to 50.0% and 56.7%, respectively, and reduced root length up to 73.8% and 53.9%, respectively, as compared with the uninoculated control. Consortia of compatible strains increased wheat shoot length, root length, fresh biomass, dry biomass, and leaf greenness up to 41.6%, 100%, 79.9%, 81.5%, and 21.1%, respectively, over the uninoculated control. Four of the 11 consortia tested expressed good weed suppression and wheat growth promotion capacity and deserve further experimentation. The findings from this study may lead to the formulation of bioherbicides that will improve human and environmental health.