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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 12 No. 3 (2025)

Inoculation of indole acetic acid-producing bacteria modulates growth and biochemical response of aromatic rice

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.7793
Submitted
18 February 2025
Published
23-07-2025 — Updated on 31-07-2025
Versions

Abstract

 

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) represents a pivotal phytohormone amongst the essential compounds involved in fostering plant growth and development, exerting its influence by provoking cell elongation, cellular enlargement and cellular division. Here, we aimed to optimize the IAA production by this selected strain and investigated its effect on the growth and biochemical status of two local aromatic rice cultivars Gobinda Bhog (GB) and Badshah Bhog (BB) as well as the soil nutrient status and their bioavailability were analyzed. The experiment was conducted in Molecular Plant Pathology and Fungal Biotechnology Laboratory, University of Burdwan, from June to December 2024. Our results indicated that fortification of rice plants with the microbial inoculant Bacillus cereus enhanced growth and biochemical characteristics as well as improved soil nutrient status. Culture conditions like incubation time, tryptophan concentration, carbon and nitrogen sources and their concentrations were optimized to get auxin-enriched postbiotics using the selected bacteria. Results showed maximum IAA (8.23 µM/mL) synthesis at 18 hrs of growth in 0.5 % tryptophan supplementation. Cellulose and sodium nitrate were the carbon and nitrogen sources respectively chosen by the isolate as suitable ones for the highest IAA production. Bio-priming as seed coating, seedling root inoculation and soil application, showed enhanced germination percentage, seedling height, dry biomass and tiller numbers. Further, the inoculated plants showed higher pigments, primary metabolites like soluble sugars and proteins, secondary metabolites like flavonoids and polyphenols and proline content compared to uninoculated plants. In conclusion, using this strain (Bacillus cereus MCC4850) has a high potency of implementing environmentally benign, economically viable and management techniques for sustainable crop production.

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