Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad, Pakistan.
Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Plant Biol. 2024 Oct 25;24(1):1003. doi: 10.1186/s12870-024-05609-0.
Drought stress imposes a serious challenge to cultivate wheat, restricting its growth. Drought reduces the capability of plant to uptake essential nutrients. This causes stunted growth, development and yield. Traditional ways to increase wheat growth under drought stress have shortcomings. Using plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) has proved feasible and eco-friendly way to enhance wheat growth even under the drought stress. Combining PGPR in consortiums further boosts up their effects. In this study, we have checked the efficacy of drought-tolerant Bacillus halotolerans, Pseudomonas sihuiensis and Bacillus atrophaeus in combination. These strains were allowed to grow on PEG 6000 with concentrations (-0.15, -0.49, -0.73 and - 1.2) Mega Pascal (MPa) alone and in combination. Furthermore, Fourier transmission infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used. Their biochemical traits such as solubilization of K, P and Zn and the synthesis of siderophore, indole acetic acid (IAA), protease, amylase, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase were done. In addition to this, we investigated the optimum folic acid concentration i.e 150 ppm for wheat against drought stress. We conducted a pot experiment to check the growth-enhancing and drought-mitigating effects of consortium and folic acid alone and in combination. As a result, we found a significantly increased wheat biomass, relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll content, antioxidants including glutathione reductase and total soluble sugars and protein content under all treatments. However, the combined treatment of bacterial consortium and folic acid showed maximum potential to boost wheat growth and survival even under drought. We also investigated the minerals uptake by wheat after the treatments and found maximum nutrient uptake under the co-effect of folic acid and bacterial consortium We believe this is the first study that has investigated the optimal dose of folic acid for wheat. Our research is also novel in that we seek to investigate the effects of folic acid along with a bacterial consortium comprising Bacillus halotolerans, Pseudomonas sihuiensis and Bacillus atrophaeus on wheat grown under the drought stress.
干旱胁迫对小麦种植造成了严重挑战，限制了其生长。干旱降低了植物吸收必需营养物质的能力。这导致生长迟缓、发育不良和产量降低。传统的增加小麦在干旱胁迫下生长的方法存在缺点。使用植物生长促进根际细菌（PGPR）已被证明是一种可行且环保的方法，可以增强小麦的生长，即使在干旱胁迫下也是如此。将 PGPR 组合在一起可以进一步提高它们的效果。在这项研究中，我们检查了耐盐芽孢杆菌、水华假单胞菌和萎缩芽孢杆菌的组合效果。这些菌株被允许在聚乙二醇 6000 上生长，浓度为（-0.15、-0.49、-0.73 和-1.2）兆帕（MPa），单独和组合使用。此外，还使用了傅里叶变换红外（FTIR）光谱和扫描电子显微镜（SEM）。他们的生化特性，如 K、P 和 Zn 的溶解以及铁载体、吲哚乙酸（IAA）、蛋白酶、淀粉酶、氢氰酸（HCN）和 1-氨基环丙烷-1-羧酸（ACC）脱氨酶的合成。除此之外，我们还研究了最佳叶酸浓度，即 150ppm 对小麦的抗旱作用。我们进行了盆栽实验，以单独和组合使用 consortium 和叶酸来检查其对生长的促进和抗旱作用。结果发现，在所有处理下，小麦生物量、相对水含量（RWC）、叶绿素含量、抗氧化剂包括谷胱甘肽还原酶和总可溶性糖和蛋白质含量均显著增加。然而，细菌 consortium 和叶酸的联合处理在干旱条件下表现出最大的潜力来促进小麦的生长和存活。我们还研究了处理后小麦对矿物质的吸收情况，发现叶酸和细菌 consortium 的协同作用下，最大程度地提高了养分的吸收。我们相信这是第一项研究小麦最佳叶酸剂量的研究。我们的研究也是新颖的，因为我们试图研究叶酸与由耐盐芽孢杆菌、水华假单胞菌和萎缩芽孢杆菌组成的细菌 consortium 对在干旱胁迫下生长的小麦的影响。
