Role ofBacillus licheniformisin Phytoremediation of Nickel Contaminated Soil Cultivated with Rice

Abstract

Heavy metal contamination in soil is an important environmental problem and it has negative effect on agriculture. Bacteria play a major role in phytoremediation of heavy metals contaminated soil. In this study, the effect of Bacillus licheniformis NCCP-59, a halophilic bacterium isolated from salt mines near Karak, Pakistan, were determined on a three week old greenhouse grown seedling and germinating seeds of two rice varieties (Basmati-385 (B-385) and KSK-282) in soil contaminated with different concentrations (0, 100, 250, 500, and 1000 ppm) of Nickel. Nickel significantly reduced the germination rate and germination percentage mainly at 500 and 1000 ppm. Significant decrease in ion contents (Na, K, and Ca) was observed while Ni ion concentration in the plant tissues increases as the concentration of Ni applied increases. The photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a (chl a), chlorophyll b (chl b), and carotenoids) were also decreased by the application of different concentrations of Ni. Total protein and organic nitrogen were found to be reduced at higher concentrations of Nickel. Inoculation of Bacillus licheniformis NCCP-59 improved seed germination and biochemical attribute of the plant under Ni stress. It is clear from the results that the Bacillus Licheniformis NCCP-59 strain has the ability to protect the plants from the toxic effects of nickel and can be used for the phytoremediation of Ni contaminated soil.

Rhizosphere engineering: Enhancing sustainable plant ecosystem productivity

“…many strains) (Shinwari et al, 2015). For example, an inoculation of Bacillus licheniformis strain NCCP-59 improved seed germination and biochemical attributes of rice under Ni stress suggesting the ability of this strain to protect the plants from the toxic effects of heavy metals (Jamil et al, 2014).…”

“…Plants and their phytoremediation potentials are usually influenced by the toxic effects of metals in soil; however, application of soil bacteria can enhance phytoremediation, hence the term microbeassisted phytoremediation (Glick, 2003;Jamil et al, 2014).…”

Effect of fresh and mature organic amendments on the phytoremediation of technosols contaminated with high concentrations of trace elements

“…The high concentration, distribution and migration of TE in these soils represent an important environmental problem due to the great toxicity of these elements that may cause major perturbations to soil ecosystems (Jamil et al, 2014;Alloway, 1995;Kabata-Pendias and Pendias, 1992;Ross, 1994). In fact the high concentrations of TE in the contaminated anthrosols is more problematic than for other soils because most of the properties of these types of soil may change with time, making their handling more difficult (Kelly et al, 1996).…”

Possibility of biological control of primocane fruiting raspberry disease caused by Fusarium sambucinum

“…From this point of view, the results on positive effect of Bacillus sp. on sanitation of Nicontaminated soils (Jamil et al 2014) and on decrease of toxicity of Zn and Cd to plants in polluted environment (Marques et al 2013) are of great interest. According to data mentioned above, we suggest that Bacillus strains studied herein could be the potential basis of biological formulations able to replace chemical fungicides for control of primocane fruiting raspberry against Fusarium and other fungal infection.…”