Open Access

ARTICLE

Multi-strain Inoculation with PGPR Producing ACC Deaminase is More Effective Than Single-strain Inoculation to Improve Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Growth and Yield

Muhammad Zafar-ul-Hye^1,*, Misbah Batool Zahra¹, Subhan Danish¹, Mazhar Abbas², Abdur Rehim¹, Muhammad Naeem Akbar¹, Ayesha Iftikhar¹, Mehreen Gul¹, Ifat Nazir¹, Maria Abid¹, Muhammad Tahzeeb-ul-Hassan¹, Maria Murtaza³

1 Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800, Pakistan
2 Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan
3 Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan

* Corresponding Author: Muhammad Zafar-ul-Hye. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2020, 89(2), 405-413. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.08918

Received 24 October 2019; Accepted 18 December 2019; Issue published 22 April 2020

Abstract

Rhizosphere bacteria that colonize plant roots and confer beneficial effects are referred as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Among all PGPR, some rhizobacteria have an ability to produce ACC deaminase enzyme. This enzyme catalyzes stress ACC into a-ketobutyrate and ammonia instead of letting it to be converted to ethylene. Ethylene level rises in plants under stress conditions i.e., drought, salinity, poor soil fertility etc. As poor soil fertility is a big hurdle to achieve the optimum yield of crops, inoculation of ACC deaminase PGPR can overcome this problem to some extent. The aim of the current study was to examine the influence of multi-strain and single-strain inoculation of different ACC deaminase producing PGPR on wheat growth and yield. There were three PGPR strains, Enterobacter cloacae, Serratia ficaria and Burkholderia phytofirmans which were used as consortia and single-strain inoculations. The results showed that inoculation of E. cloacae + S. ficaria + B. phytofirmans significantly increased plant height (63%), spike length (61%), number of spikelets spike^-1 (61%), number of grains spike-1 (131%), 1000 grains weight (33%), grains yield (71%), straw yield (71%) and biological yield (68%) of wheat as compared to control. A significant improvement in N (37 and 200%), P (46 and 166%) and K (39 and 61%) of seeds and shoot respectively, validated the efficacious and more effective role of multi-strain (E. cloacae + S. ficaria + B. phytofirmans) inoculation over control. It is obviously concluded that multi-strain ACC deaminase producing PGPR inoculation is a better approach as compared to singlestrain inoculation for the improvement in growth and yield of wheat.

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