Evaluation of microbial isolates from Sorghum Rhizosphere for Plant Growth Performance in Sorghum and Tomato

Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh - 201313, India

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Abstract

The rhizosphere of plants acts as a dynamic zone of interaction between various microbes and roots, contributing to improved soil health and plant development. These microbes form a close association with plant roots, promote soil fertility and play multiple roles in supporting plant development through various processes, for instance, nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilisation, phytohormone secretion and potassium mobilisation, resulting in enhanced crop productivity.

This study was carried out to evaluate the potential of microbial isolates from Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) for their growth-promoting attributes. Bacterial isolates were isolated from the rhizosphere of Sorghum plants and screened for plant growth-promoting (PGP) potential. Selected microbes were applied to Sorghum and Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants by pouring the bacterial culture near the root zone. The treated samples showed improvement in growth traits such as root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, root length, shoot length, root dry weight, shoot dry weight, leaf width, leaf length and number of leaves and overall plant vigour in treated plants compared to untreated controls in all the accessions. Amongst these four samples, treated SB3 showed substantial improvement in growth performance compared to other accessions. The application of selected microbial isolates through soil inoculation can be an eco-friendly and sustainable approach for promoting agriculture. Further studies are required to validate their performance in different crops under field conditions.