Use of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria in Combination with Chitosan on Maize Crop: Promising Prospects for Sustainable, Environmentally Friendly Agriculture and against Abiotic Stress

Abstract

Faced with the problems posed by the abusive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, it is important to find other alternatives that can guarantee a sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture. The objective of this study was to evaluate the tolerance of a PGPR (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria) Pseudomonas putida strain to different abiotic stress in in vitro conditions and the synergistic effect of this rhizobacterium in combination with chitosan extracted from crab exoskeletons on the growth of maize in greenhouse conditions. The strain of P. putida was put in culture at different temperatures, pH, and NaCl concentrations to determine its growth. Then, this strain in combination with chitosan extracts were tested for their ability to improve maize growth for 30 days. The results showed that the P. putida strain showed excellent resistance capacities to different salt concentrations, pH, and temperature variations. Moreover, an improvement in plant growth and biomass yield parameters was observed. The highest values of height, diameter, and leaf area were obtained with the plants treated with the combination of chitosan extracted from Cardisoma armatum and P. putida, with increases of 26.8%, 31%, and 55.7%, respectively, compared to the control. This study shows the possibility of using chitosan and rhizobacteria as biostimulants to improve productivity and increase maize yield in a sustainable manner.

Bioformulations Derived from <i>Enterobacter</i> sp. NRRU-N13 and Oligochitosan Alleviate Drought Stress in Thai Jasmine Rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> L. var. KDML105)

“…Increases in APX and CAT activities in a stressed plant may be attributed to the application of chitosan and PGPR (Guan et al, 2009). The up-regulation of these antioxidant enzymes was previously reported in chickpea (Khan et al, 2019), wheat (Arun et al, 2020), maize (Agbodjato et al, 2021), and grape (Singh et al, 2019) under abiotic stresses. These antioxidants improve the potential of a crop to overcome drought stress.…”

“…The findings demonstrated that these combinations had a beneficial effect on the growth, and effectively mitigated drought-induced stress in rice plants during periods of water deficit. According to Agbodjato et al (2021) , the combination of chitosan and PGPR attenuated the adverse effects of drought on maize and improved yield and productivity. Moreover, it increased the chlo­rophyll content, antioxidant level, and photosynthetic pigments in drought-stressed plants ( Abdelaal et al , 2021 ).…”

Interactive Effects of Plant Growth-Promoting Microbes and Nanoparticles on the Physiology, Growth, and Yield of Crops

“…It is very sensitive to low availability of phosphorus and other mineral elements for growth (Postma and Lynch, 2011) and has been shown to be amenable to application of PGPR-based biostimulants (Agbodjato et al, 2021a). Over the last decades in Benin, a lot of work has been done on the use of different biostimulants on maize productivity These studies were carried out on the identification, biochemical characterization, formulation, inoculation and application of PGPR-based biostimulants to increase maize growth and yield (Adjanohoun et al, 2012;Agbodjato et al, 2021b;Adoko et al, 2021b). Nevertheless, studies on the PGPR-based biostimulant-coated maize seed in Benin are less documented.…”

Effect of the application or coating of PGPR-based biostimulant on the growth, yield and nutritional status of maize in Benin

“…It is very sensitive to low availability of phosphorus and other mineral elements for growth ( Postma and Lynch, 2011 ) and has been shown to be amenable to application of PGPR-based biostimulants ( Agbodjato et al., 2021a ). Over the last decades in Benin, a lot of work has been done on the use of different biostimulants on maize productivity These studies were carried out on the identification, biochemical characterization, formulation, inoculation and application of PGPR-based biostimulants to increase maize growth and yield ( Adjanohoun et al., 2012 ; Agbodjato et al., 2021b ; Adoko et al., 2021b ). Nevertheless, studies on the PGPR-based biostimulant-coated maize seed in Benin are less documented.…”