A practical method to investigate the effect of volatile organic compounds emitted by rhizobacteria on plant growth under conditions of salt stress

Lorena Del Rosario Cappellari; Samanta Soledad Gil; Tamara Belen Palermo; Jimena Sofia Palermo; Romina Meneguzzi; Walter Giordano; Erika Banchio

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2023.102099

A practical method to investigate the effect of volatile organic compounds emitted by rhizobacteria on plant growth under conditions of salt stress

MethodsX. 2023 Mar 2:10:102099. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2023.102099. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Lorena Del Rosario Cappellari¹, Samanta Soledad Gil¹, Tamara Belen Palermo¹, Jimena Sofia Palermo¹, Romina Meneguzzi¹, Walter Giordano¹, Erika Banchio¹

Affiliation

¹ INBIAS Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud (CONICET- Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto), Campus Universitario, Río Cuarto 5800, Argentina.

Abstract

Salinity is one of the causes that limit crop production. Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) are beneficial soil bacteria that play a significant role in promoting plant growth. These microorganisms can produce their effect through the emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Most of the research to study the effects of microbial VOCs on plant growth has been carried out under controlled conditions using partitioned Petri dishes. In this article, we describe an alternative method that has the advantage of allowing long-term trials, being able to let the plant have a greater development in growth and height, without space limitation. In the proposed method, M. piperita were planted in glass jars containing Murashige and Skoog solid media, with a small glass vial containing Hoagland media inserted into the jar. This small vial was inoculated with the specified bacterium and served as the source of bacterial volatiles. This way plants were exposed to mVOCs without having any physical contact with the rhizobacteria.•The procedure allows studying the effect of microbial VOCs on plant growth.•It also allows longer trials, being able to let the plant develop more without space limitation.

Keywords: Growth Parameters; Microbial volatile organic compound; Modeling the effect of microbial VOCs on aromatic and medicinal plants grown under saline stress; PGPR; Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria; Salt stress; mVOCs.