Isolation and characterization of a plant growth‑promoting rhizobacterium strain MD36 that promotes barley seedlings and growth under heavy metals stress

Sofiane Ghorbel; Mohammad Aldilami; Hela Zouari-Mechichi; Tahar Mechichi; Emad Ali AlSherif

doi:10.1007/s13205-023-03566-3

Isolation and characterization of a plant growth‑promoting rhizobacterium strain MD36 that promotes barley seedlings and growth under heavy metals stress

3 Biotech. 2023 May;13(5):145. doi: 10.1007/s13205-023-03566-3. Epub 2023 Apr 27.

Authors

Sofiane Ghorbel^#^{1

2}, Mohammad Aldilami^#¹, Hela Zouari-Mechichi³, Tahar Mechichi³, Emad Ali AlSherif^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Jeddah, College of Science and Arts at Khulais, Biology Department, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
² Plant Physiology and Functional Genomics Research Unit, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Sfax, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia.
³ Laboratory of Biochemistry and Enzymatic Engineering of Lipases, National School of Engineers of Sfax, University of Sfax, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia.
⁴ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni‒Suef, 62521 Egypt.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Plant growth, promoting, bacteria, (PGPB) can improve plant germination and growth in heavy metal-contaminated land and enhance heavy metal removal efficiency. In this study, we isolated PGPR bacterial strains which can withstand heavy metal pollution and tested their ability to improve barley germination under heavy metal stress. Out of 16 multi-resistant heavy metal isolates, strain MD36 was identified by 16S rRNA sequencing and shared close relation to different species of the genus Glutamicibacter. The new isolated strain showed other important PGPR activities, mainly IAA production and salt tolerance. The effect of adding the strain MD36 to barley grains under heavy metal stress enhanced their germination up to 100%, while the percentage of germination ranged between 0 and 20% for non-inoculated grains. In addition, in these conditions, MD36 can significantly enhance barley growth by reducing the heavy metal effect. This study strongly recommends the use of MD36 as seed coatings trials in the field to enhance growth and yield in soils contaminated with heavy metals, as well as in bioremediation of HM-contaminated salt-containing soils and water.

Keywords: Germination; Growth; Heavy metal; MD36; PGPR.

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