Cytokinin Production by Azospirillum brasilense Contributes to Increase in Growth, Yield, Antioxidant, and Physiological Systems of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Muhammad Saqlain Zaheer; Hafiz Haider Ali; Muhammad Arslan Iqbal; Kehinde O Erinle; Talha Javed; Javaid Iqbal; Makhdoom Ibad Ullah Hashmi; Muhammad Zahid Mumtaz; Ehab A A Salama; Hazem M Kalaji; Jacek Wróbel; Eldessoky S Dessoky

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.886041

Cytokinin Production by Azospirillum brasilense Contributes to Increase in Growth, Yield, Antioxidant, and Physiological Systems of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Front Microbiol. 2022 May 19:13:886041. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.886041. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agricultural Engineering, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan.
² Sustainable Development Study Center (SDSC), Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan.
³ District Headquarter Hospital, Muzaffargarh, Pakistan.
⁴ School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
⁵ College of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.
⁶ Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Entomology, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef (MNU) University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan.
⁸ Department of Chemical Engineering, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan.
⁹ Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
¹⁰ Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture Saba Basha, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
¹¹ Department of Plant Physiology, Institute of Biology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW, Warsaw, Poland.
¹² Institute of Technology and Life Sciences - National Research Institute, Raszyn, Poland.
¹³ Department of Bioengineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland.
¹⁴ Department of Biology, College of Science, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria are known to associate with several cereal crops. The rhizobacterium exerts its function by synthesizing diverse arrays of phytohormones, such as cytokinin (Ck). However, it is difficult to determine the plant growth promotion when a bacterium produces many different kinds of phytohormones. Therefore, to assess the involvement of Ck in growth promotion and activation of antioxidant and physiological systems, we set up this experiment. Wheat seeds (Triticum aestivum L.) were inoculated with Azospirillum brasilense RA-17 (which produces zeatin type Ck) and RA-18 (which failed to produce Ck). Results showed that seed inoculation with RA-17 significantly improved growth and yield-related parameters compared with RA-18. The activity of enzymes, proline contents, and endogenous hormonal levels in wheat kernels were improved considerably with RA-17 than with RA-18. Strain RA-17 enhanced grain assimilation more than strain RA-18 resulting in a higher crop yield. These results suggest that microbial Ck production may be necessary for stimulating plant growth promotion and activating antioxidant and physiological systems in wheat.

Keywords: bacteria; cytokinin; hormones; rhizosphere; wheat.