Plant probiotic bacteria Bacillus and Paraburkholderia improve growth, yield and content of antioxidants in strawberry fruit

Abstract

Strawberry is an excellent source of natural antioxidants with high capacity of scavenging free radicals. This study evaluated the effects of two plant probiotic bacteria, Bacillus amylolequefaciens BChi1 and Paraburkholderia fungorum BRRh-4 on growth, fruit yield and antioxidant contents in strawberry fruits. Root dipping of seedlings (plug plants) followed by spray applications of both probiotic bacteria in the field on foliage significantly increased fruit yield (up to 48%) over non-treated control. Enhanced fruit yield likely to be linked with higher root and shoot growth, individual and total fruit weight/plant and production of phytohormone by the probiotic bacteria applied on plants. Interestingly, the fruits from plants inoculated with the isolates BChi1 and BRRh-4 had significantly higher contents of phenolics, carotenoids, flavonoids and anthocyanins over non-treated control. Total antioxidant activities were also significantly higher (p < 0.05) in fruits of strawberry plants treated with both probiotic bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of significant improvement of both yield and quality of strawberry fruits by the application of plant probiotic bacteria BChi1 and BRRh-4 in a field condition. Further study is needed to elucidate underlying mechanism of growth and quality improvement of strawberry fruits by probiotic bacteria.

Mycorrhizal frequency, physiological parameters, and yield of strawberry plants inoculated with endomycorrhizal fungi and rhizosphere bacteria

“…In the opinion of those authors, the largest increase in fruit weight was obtained following the use of bacteria and fungi (Bacillus velezensis and Rhizophagus intraradices) at the beginning of the strawberry growing cycle. According to Rahman et al (2018), it is very effective to use bacterial preparations by treating the root system and by foliar application. The cited authors claim that these ways of applying Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BChi1 and Paraburkholderia fungorum BRRh-4 in the case of the strawberry cultivar "Festival" can increase yields by up to 43% and 48%, respectively.…”

White rot disease protection and growth promotion of garlic (Allium sativum) by endophytic bacteria

“…Production of IAA by Streptomyces spp. (Abd‐Alla et al , ) and members of the Bacillus genus (Rahman et al , ) have previously been reported. However, the Streptomyces isolate 136 could not produce IAA and also did not exhibit any ability to solubilize inorganic phosphorus in vitro .…”

“…Production of IAA by Streptomyces spp. (Abd-Alla et al, 2013) and members of the Bacillus genus (Rahman et al, 2018) have previously been reported. However, the Streptomyces isolate 136 could not produce IAA and also did not exhibit any ability to solubilize inorganic phosphorus Figure 4 Effect of white rot (Sclerotium cepivorum; Sc) and pretreatment with endophytic bacteria on expression of alliin lyase 2 and accumulation of alliin in the stems of garlic seedlings.…”

Evaluation of Plant Growth Promoting Ability of &lt;i&gt;Bacillus amyloliquefaciens&lt;/i&gt; Bc2 and &lt;i&gt;Trichoderma harzianum&lt;/i&gt; TR &lt;i&gt;In Vivo&lt;/i&gt;

“…According to most studies on strawberries, the PGPMs showed a positive effect on their growth and development [45]- [50].…”