The release of heavy metals in the environment is a serious threat causing health hazards to living beings. Hence, it is essential to remediate chemical contamination for a safe environment. Bioremediation is considered one of the most cost-effective and sustainable agricultural techniques, in contrast with other conventional methods to reduce chromium toxicity in agricultural lands polluted with chromium, as it is a natural way to mitigate the toxic effects of hexavalent chromium with simultaneous amelioration in the growth of plants. In the current study, an attempt was made to reduce toxicity of chromium by using six plant growth-promoting chromium-resistant bacteria (Bacillus pumilus (ALa), Bacillus atrophaeus (BL2), Bacillus cereus (AR), Staphylococcus lentus (E3), T2aii and W6ii) for enhancing the growth of Zea mays L. in soil contaminated with chromium. In this regard, a pot experiment was conducted with pre-germination and post-germination inoculation treatments to Zea mays seeds in the presence of chromium stress, i.e., 200, 400, and 600 µg/ml. Our results have shown that toxicity of chromium caused a reduction in photosynthetic pigments and protein content together with reduction in growth parameters of plants, while treatments with chromium-resistant PGPB significantly enhanced chromium tolerance in treated plants compared with non-inoculated treatments in the presence of chromium stress. The present investigation suggests that applying post-germination inoculation treatments is an effective technique for improved plant growth and heavy metal alleviation in metal-contaminated soil. Thus, our current work revealed an incentive approach toward the green revolution in the age of industrialization by exploring beneficial chromium-tolerant auxin-producing microbes.
Bacteria are tiny organisms which are ubiquitously found in the environment. These microscopic living bodies are responsible for the flow of nutrients in biogeochemical cycles and fertility imparted to the soil. Release of excessive chromium in agricultural soils due to rapid growth of industries may result in minimizing the fertility of soil in future, which will lead to reduction in crop production. Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) are beneficial to the environment, some of which can tolerate chromium and protect plants against heavy metal stress. The current study aims to identify such chromium-tolerant auxin-producing rhizobacteria and to investigate their inoculation effects on the growth characteristics of Lens culinaris in chromium polluted soils by using two different chromium salts i.e., K2Cr2O7 and K2CrO4 in varying concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 500 µgml−1). The results revealed that Bacillus species are efficient in significantly reducing the deleterious effects of Cr. These effective bacterial strains were able to stimulate the growth of metal effected plants of Lens culinaris which were grown in chromium contaminated environment. Therefore, these plant growth promoting rhizobacteria PGPRs, having both auxin production potential and chromium-resistance ability, are considered as efficient micro-factories against chromium pollution.
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