Background: Salinity is a major threat to the agriculture industry due to the negative impact of salinity stress on crop productivity. In the present study, we isolated rhizobacteria and evaluated their capacities to promote crop growth under salt stress conditions. Results: We isolated rhizospheric bacteria from sand dune flora of Pohang beach, Korea, and screened them for plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits. Among 55 bacterial isolates, 14 produced indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), 10 produced siderophores, and 12 produced extracellular polymeric and phosphate solubilization. Based on these PGP traits, we selected 11 isolates to assess for salinity tolerance. Among them, ALT29 and ALT43 showed the highest tolerance to salinity stress. Next, we tested the culture filtrate of isolates ALT29 and ALT43 for IAA and organic acids to confirm the presence of these PGP products. To investigate the effects of ALT29 and ALT43 on salt tolerance in soybean, we grew seedlings in 0 mM, 80 mM, 160 mM, and 240 mM NaCl treatments, inoculating half with the bacterial isolates. Inoculation with ALT29 and ALT43 significantly increased shoot length (13%), root length (21%), shoot fresh and dry weight (44 and 35%), root fresh and dry weight (9%), chlorophyll content (16–24%), Chl a (8–43%), Chl b (13–46%), and carotenoid (14–39%) content of soybean grown under salt stress. Inoculation with ALT29 and ALT43 also significantly decreased endogenous ABA levels (0.77-fold) and increased endogenous SA contents (6–16%), increased total protein (10–20%) and glutathione contents, and reduced lipid peroxidation (0.8–5-fold), superoxide anion (21–68%), peroxidase (12.14–17.97%), and polyphenol oxidase (11.76–27.06%) contents in soybean under salinity stress. In addition, soybean treated with ALT29 and ALT43 exhibited higher K⁺ uptake (9.34–67.03%) and reduced Na⁺ content (2–4.5-fold). Genes involved in salt tolerance, GmFLD19 and GmNARK, were upregulated under NaCl stress; however, significant decreases in GmFLD19 (3–12-fold) and GmNARK (1.8–3.7-fold) expression were observed in bacterial inoculated plants. Conclusion: In conclusion, bacterial isolates ALT29 and ALT43 can mitigate salinity stress and increase plant growth, providing an eco-friendly approach for addressing saline conditions in agricultural production systems.

Silicon (Si) and phosphorus (P) are beneficial nutrient elements for plant growth. These elements are widely used in chemical fertilizers despite their abundance in the earth’s crust. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers is a threat to sustainable agriculture. Here, we screened different Si and P solubilizing bacterial strains from the diverse rice fields of Daegu, Korea. The strain with high Si and P solubilizing ability was selected and identified as Enterobacter ludwigii GAK2 through 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The isolate GAK2 produced organic acids (citric acid, acetic acid, and lactic acid), indole-3-acetic acid, and gibberellic acid (GA₁, GA₃) in Luria-Bertani media. In addition, GAK2 inoculation promoted seed germination in a gibberellin deficient rice mutant Waito-C and rice cultivar ‘Hwayoungbyeo’. Overall, the isolate GAK2 increased root length, shoot length, fresh biomass, and chlorophyll content of rice plants. These findings reveal that E. ludwigii GAK2 is a potential silicon and phosphate bio-fertilizer.

Background. Salinity is one of the major abiotic constraints that hinder health and quality of crops. Conversely, halotolerant plant growth-promoting rhizospheric (PGPR) bacteria are considered biologically safe for alleviating salinity stress. Results. We isolated halotolerant PGPR strains from the rhizospheric soil of Artemisia princeps, Chenopodium ficifolium, Echinochloa crus-galli, and Oenothera biennis plants; overall, 126 strains were isolated. The plant growth-promoting traits of these isolates were studied by inoculating them with the soil used to grow soybean plants under normal and salt stress (NaCl; 200 mM) conditions. The isolates identified as positive for growth-promoting activities were subjected to molecular identification. Out of 126 isolates, five strains—Arthrobacter woluwensis (AK1), Microbacterium oxydans (AK2), Arthrobacter aurescens (AK3), Bacillus megaterium (AK4), and Bacillus aryabhattai (AK5)—were identified to be highly tolerant to salt stress and demonstrated several plant growth-promoting traits like increased production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellin (GA), and siderophores and increased phosphate solubilization. These strains were inoculated in the soil of soybean plants grown under salt stress (NaCl; 200 mM) and various physiological and morphological parameters of plants were studied. The results showed that the microbial inoculation elevated the antioxidant (SOD and GSH) level and K⁺ uptake and reduced the Na⁺ ion concentration. Moreover, inoculation of these microbes significantly lowered the ABA level and increased plant growth attributes and chlorophyll content in soybean plants under 200 mM NaCl stress. The salt-tolerant gene GmST1 was highly expressed with the highest expression of 42.85% in AK1-treated plants, whereas the lowest expression observed was 13.46% in AK5-treated plants. Similarly, expression of the IAA regulating gene GmLAX3 was highly depleted in salt-stressed plants by 38.92%, which was upregulated from 11.26% to 43.13% upon inoculation with the microorganism. Conclusion. Our results showed that the salt stress-resistant microorganism used in these experiments could be a potential biofertilizer to mitigate the detrimental effects of salt stress in plants via regulation of phytohormones and gene expression.