Salinity is a major environmental stress that limits crop production worldwide. In this study, we characterized plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) containing 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase and examined their effect on salinity stress tolerance in okra through the induction of ROS-scavenging enzyme activity. PGPR inoculated okra plants exhibited higher germination percentage, growth parameters, and chlorophyll content than control plants. Increased antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, APX, and CAT) and upregulation of ROS pathway genes (CAT, APX, GR, and DHAR) were observed in PGPR inoculated okra plants under salinity stress. With some exceptions, inoculation with Enterobacter sp. UPMR18 had a significant influence on all tested parameters under salt stress, as compared to other treatments. Thus, the ACC deaminase-containing PGPR isolate Enterobacter sp. UPMR18 could be an effective bioresource for enhancing salt tolerance and growth of okra plants under salinity stress.

Biofertilizer is a relatively safer, environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach as an alternative to reduce chemical fertilizer usage. The selection of bacterial strains with multiple beneficial characteristics are important to maximize the effectiveness on the host plant. Due to aforementioned interest, several Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacterial (PGPR) and rhizobial strains were isolated from rice and legume roots, respectively, at four locations in Malaysia namely Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Selangor; Besut, Terengganu; Tunjung, Kelantan and Sik, Kedah. Bacterial isolations were undertaken to select the best isolates which exhibit multiple beneficial effects to the rice plant and a total of 205 bacterial strains were isolated and categorized as follows; 94 rhizospheric and 107 endophytic bacteria from rice roots, one rhizobial strain from soybean and three from Mimosa pudica. These isolates were screened for their abilities to fix N 2 and solubilize phosphate; 52 were positive for both tests. The selected isolates were then tested for IAA production and other biochemical tests such as potassium solubilization, hydrolyzing enzymes (cellulase and pectinase) and iron siderophore productions. Four isolates, namely UPMB19 (rhizospheric PGPR from Tunjung, Kelantan), UPMB20 (endophytic PGPR from Besut, Terengganu), UPMR30 (rhizobia from soybean) and UPMR31 (rhizobia from Mimosa) were selected for subsequent plant inoculation tests with UPMB10, a PGPR isolated from oil palm root, as the reference strain. Based on 16S rDNA gene sequencing, these bacterial strains were identified under several genera: Lysinibacillus, Alcaligenes, Bradyrhizobium, Rhizobium and Bacillus, respectively. Results of plant inoculation test indicated that UPMB19 significantly enhanced the seedling height at the early growth stage (7 days after transplanting, DAT) which could be attributed to the higher N 2 fixation rate of this strain as compared to the other strains, except UPMB20. UPMB10 and UPMR31 also showed significant effects with increased seedling height and Total Dry Weight (TDW) at the later stage (14 DAT) possibly due to the higher bacterial population and IAA produced as observed in the residual nutrient solution without addition of fertilizer-N. This study has successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of locally isolated PGPR and rhizobial strains with multiple beneficial characteristics on early growth and vigor of rice seedlings under controlled condition. The result proved to be a vital information in the development of a liquid biofertilizer for rice; thus further studies will be done to evaluate the effectiveness of these isolates under glasshouse and field conditions on growth, tillering and yield of rice.

The study was undertaken to characterize plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) for growth enhancement and stress tolerant traits and their efficacy on early establishment of rice seedling. In vitro growth promoting traits revealed that out of 30 PGPR isolates, 18 fixed nitrogen, 17 solubilized tri-calcium phosphate, 29 and 17 produced IAA with or without addition of L-tryptophane. In case of stress tolerant activities, PGPR isolates tolerated pH ranging from 5 to 10, Nacl from 1 to 6% and polyethylene glycol (PEG) from 10 to 40%, respectively. They showed antagonistic activity against Pyricularia oryzae with PIRG values ranging from 7−68%. After two-stage of screening, isolates UPMR7 and UPMR17 were identified based on 16s rRNA gene sequences and matched to the genus Bacillus and Citrobacter with 97−98% similarity. UPMR 7 and UPMR 17 were further evaluated on early growth promotion of rice variety MR219. Results revealed that PGPR inoculation had significant effects on plant growth compared to non-inoculated plants. Thus, it could be suggested that the isolates UPMR7 and UPMR17 have the potential to be used as biofertilizer and bioenhancer in sustainable rice cultivation.

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Microbial fortified organic amendment in chili cultivation may affect plant development and disease suppression. Microbial infused rice straw compost, commercial rice straw compost, and fungicide Benomyl for chili (Capsicum annum L.) cultivation and control of Sclerotium foot rot were studied under glass house condition. Chili seed cv. Kulai were sown in the Sclerotium rolfsii infested and non-infested soil. After two weeks, five healthy seedlings were transplanted into planting bags. Growth performance and development of disease symptoms associated with S. rolfsii foot rot infection were assessed. Applying microbial infused rice straw compost increased seed germination and plant growth, and suppressed development of foot rot compared to using commercial rice straw compost and the Benomyl. A higher disease reduction (84.6%) occurred with 15 Mg·ha −1 microbial infused rice straw compost (62.7%), followed by Benomyl (53.8%), and 15 Mg·ha −1 commercial rice straw compost (46.2%). Application of microbial infused rice straw compost at 15 Mg·ha −1 yielded optimum seed germination and seedling establishment, plant growth, and disease suppression. Microbial infused rice straw compost is a good alternative to chemical fungicide in controlling Sclerotial disease in chili. * * * * * Shown is the significant interaction only. † NS: nonsignificant; * * : significant at P ≤ 0.01, ANOVA. * T 1 = Control; T 2 = 7.5 Mg·ha −1 microbial infused rice straw compost; T 3 = 15.0 Mg·ha −1 microbial infused rice straw compost; T 4 = 7.5 Mg·ha −1 Best Flora compost; T 5 = 15.0 Mg·ha −1 Best Flora compost; and T 6 = Benomyl @ 0.55 kg·ha −1 . † Means within columns followed by the same letter are not significantly different, 5% level of probability, least significant difference (LSD) test.

Eight sunflower inbred lines were crossed in 8×8 diallel fashion (without reciprocal) and 28 F 1 were developed at Oilseed Research Centre (ORC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur in Rabi season, 2018. All F 1 and their parents were planted in Rabi season 2019 to estimate general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects for yield and yield attributes. The highly significant mean squares for genotypes for all the studied characters indicating wide variability in the parental materials. The highly significant GCA effects for stem diameter, days to maturity, number of seeds/head, 1000-seed weight and SCA effects for days to 50 flowering, days to maturity, head diameter, number of seeds/head, 1000-seed weight and seed yield were observed. The greater ratio of GCA/SCA implies the predominance of additive gene effect for all the studied characters. The parents, P1, P2, P3, P6 and P8 were found as good general combining parents for short duration, early maturity, lodging resistant, and 1000 seed weight. Crosses with the best SCA effects for some characters were found from the interaction of low × low, high × low, low × high or high × average combining parents. Further investigation on superiority and stability of good combining parents and hybrids over different years and locations is needed.

A comparative phenotypic and morpho-histological study was carried out on tissue culture-derived truncated leaf syndrome (TLS) and wild-type oil palm seedlings to investigate their phenotypic and morpho-histological differences. On the basis of the percentage of TLS occurence in a clone, the TLS seedlings were categorized into three groups: severe (70-100%), moderate (40-69%) and mild (\40%). Wild and TLS seedlings differ in terms of growth, vigor, leaf size and shape, root number, volume, length as well as the size of shoot apical meristem (SAM).Differences were also found in fresh weight of leaf, root and SAM of TLS in comparison to wild-type seedlings. Depressed and wavy leaf surface, sunken and distorted stomata and coalesced epidermal cells were observed by scanning electron microscopy in TLS seedlings. The size, shape and number of stomata were also different in the TLS leaf compared to the wild type. Longer epidermal cells, depressed epidermal layer, larger sub-epidermal cells and loosely arranged less mesophyll cells were observed in TLS leaf than in wild type. Undifferentiated vascular bundle was found in TLS leaves where metaxylem and phloem were absent and root tips were impaired. The size and leaf primordial arrangement of SAM were remarkably different in TLS compared to wild-type seedlings suggesting that these alterations might be due to smaller SAM. Therefore, further detailed genetic analysis on TLS SAM is needed for clear understanding of TLS occurrence.