Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and biochar production from Parthenium hysterophorus enhance seed germination and productivity in barley under drought stress

Farrukh Gul; Irfan Ullah Khan; Susan Rutherford; Zhi-Cong Dai; Guanlin Li; Dao-Lin Du

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1175097

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and biochar production from Parthenium hysterophorus enhance seed germination and productivity in barley under drought stress

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jun 8:14:1175097. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1175097. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Farrukh Gul^{1

2

3}, Irfan Ullah Khan^{1

2}, Susan Rutherford², Zhi-Cong Dai², Guanlin Li^{4

5

6}, Dao-Lin Du^{1

2

7}

Affiliations

¹ School of Emergency Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
² School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
³ Department of Botany, Pir Mehr Ali Shah-Arid University (PMAS), Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵ Institute of Environmental Health and Ecological Security, School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
⁶ Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China.

Abstract

Drought stress can significantly affect plant growth and development. Biochar (BC) and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been found to increase plant fertility and development under drought conditions. The single effects of BC and PGPR in different plant species have been widely reported under abiotic stress. However, there have been relatively few studies on the positive role of PGPR, BC, and their combination in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Therefore, the current study investigated the effects of BC from Parthenium hysterophorus, drought tolerant PGPR (Serratia odorifera), and the combination of BC + PGPR on the growth, physiology, and biochemical traits of barley plants under drought stress for two weeks. A total of 15 pots were used under five treatments. Each pot of 4 kg soil comprised the control (T0, 90% water), drought stress alone (T1, 30% water), 35 mL PGPR/kg soil (T2, 30% water), 2.5%/kg soil BC (T3, 30% water), and a combination of BC and PGPR (T4, 30% water). Combined PGPR and BC strongly mitigated the negative effects of drought by improving the shoot length (37.03%), fresh biomass (52%), dry biomass (62.5%), and seed germination (40%) compared to the control. The PGPR + BC amendment treatment enhanced physiological traits, such as chlorophyll a (27.9%), chlorophyll b (35.3%), and total chlorophyll (31.1%), compared to the control. Similarly, the synergistic role of PGPR and BC significantly (p< 0.05) enhanced the antioxidant enzyme activity including peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) to alleviate the toxicity of ROS. The physicochemical properties (N, K, P, and EL) of the soils were also enhanced by (85%, 33%, 52%, and 58%) respectively, under the BC + PGPR treatment compared to the control and drought stress alone. The findings of this study have suggested that the addition of BC, PGPR, and a combination of both will improve the soil fertility, productivity, and antioxidant defense systems of barley under drought stress. Therefore, BC from the invasive plant P. hysterophorus and PGPR can be applied to water-deficient areas to improve barley crop production.

Keywords: physicochemical; seed germination; soil nutrients; tolerance; water stress.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Open Project of Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, CAS (Grant No kf2020006), the Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Technology Innovation Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20220030), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32271587; 31800342), the Talent Project from the “Double-Entrepreneurial Plan” in Jiangsu Province, and the Senior Talent Foundation of Jiangsu University (18JDG039).