Exploring the Potential of Four Novel Halotolerant Bacterial Strains as Plant-Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) under Saline Conditions

Abstract

Soil salinity, due to natural phenomena or human activities, alters the water potential, which in turn affects plant growth, negatively influencing their nutrient and water uptake. Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can be used to counteract these negative effects, especially in glycophytes. The aim of our study was to characterize physiologically, genetically, and biochemically the novel halotolerant/halophilic bacteria isolated in our previous work. We evaluated the plant-growth-promoting (PGP) features and NaCl regulation’s roles in them. In this regard, analysis based on 16S rDNA sequences confirmed that our isolates are distinct bacterial strains, probably belonging to new species, which we named Bacillus sp. M21 and M23 and Halomonas sp. QH23 and QH24. In literature, it is known that many species of Halomonas and Bacillus genera produce factors regulating plant development, such as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), ammonium, and siderophores; and their efficiency in promoting plant growth and productivity was also demonstrated in vivo. We demonstrated that the newly isolated strains exhibit different PGP activities, highlighting how the latter are regulated by NaCl and in a strain-dependent manner. In particular, the main results showed that NaCl negatively affects the production of IAA in QH23, M21 and M23, whereas it promotes it in QH24, where it is strictly salt-dependent. Both Halomonas strains produce ammonium only in the presence of NaCl, directly correlated to its concentration. The opposite occurs in Bacillus strains, where salt reduces its production up to ten times. Overall, the results underline how halotolerance is a preferable, but not sufficient, condition for considering a PGPR potentially useful in applications aimed at improving the tolerance and productivity of crops in saline soils.

Halophilic Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria as Producers of Antifungal Metabolites under Salt Stress

“…Recently, most research has focused on the isolation and study of halotolerant and halophilic bacteria with plant growth potential [53][54][55]. In our work, all the isolated bacteria could fix molecular nitrogen and solubilize mineral phosphate.…”

“…IAA-producing microorganisms stimulate root growth, allowing for increased nutrient and water use efficiency [57][58][59][60]. The simultaneous expression of different PGP traits promotes plant growth [53] and increases the potential of the isolates to be used as plant biostimulants, especially under stress conditions such as saline soils.…”

Halophilic Plant-Associated Bacteria with Plant-Growth-Promoting Potential

“…Table 1 includes other Halomonas strains that have been reported. Some Halomonas species isolated from plants have been shown to have potential as PGPB [132,133] or in phytoremediation to improve soils [125] (Table 1). A collection of halotolerant microbes isolated from Salicornia ramiosissima [132] contains some isolates with PGPB activity.…”

“…A collection of halotolerant microbes isolated from Salicornia ramiosissima [132] contains some isolates with PGPB activity. Two Halomonas and two Bacillus strains were identified from the rhizosphere of quinoa that have different activities as PGPB, and it was shown that these strains exhibit beneficial traits that are salt-regulated [133].…”