Tannery wastewater mainly comes from leather industries. It has high organic load, high salinity, and many other pollutants, including chromium (Cr). Tannery wastewater is generally used for crop irrigation in some areas of Pakistan and worldwide, due to the low availability of good quality of irrigation water. As tannery wastewater has many nutrients in it, its lower concentration benefits the plant growth, but at a higher concentration, it damages the plants. Chromium in tannery wastewater accumulates in plants, and causes stress at physiological and biochemical levels. In recent times, the role of micronutrient-amino acid chelated compounds has been found to be helpful in reducing abiotic stress in plants. In our present study, we used lysine chelated zinc (Zn-lys) as foliar application on maize (Zea mays L.), growing in different concentrations of tannery wastewater. Zinc (Zn) is required by plants for growth, and lysine is an essential amino acid. Maize plants were grown in tannery wastewater in four concentrations (0, 25%, 50%, and 100%) and Zn-lys was applied as a foliar spray in three concentrations (0 mM, 12.5 mM, and 25 mM) during plant growth. Plants were cautiously harvested right after 6 weeks of treatment. Foliar spray of Zn-lys on maize increased the biomass and improved the plant growth. Photosynthetic pigments such as total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and contents of carotenoids also increased with Zn-lys application. In contrast to control plants, the hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents were increased up to 12%, 50%, and 68% in leaves, as well as 16%, 51% and 89% in roots at 25%, 50%, and 100% tannery water application, respectively, without Zn-lys treatments. Zn-lys significantly reduced the damages caused by oxidative stress in maize plant by decreasing the overproduction of H₂O₂ and malondialdehyde (MDA) in maize that were produced, due to the application of high amount of tannery wastewater alone. The total free amino acids and soluble protein decreased by 10%, 31% and 64% and 18%, 61% and 122% at 25%, 50% and 100% tannery water treatment. Zn-lys application increased the amino acids production and antioxidant activities in maize plants. Zn contents increased, and Cr contents decreased, in different parts of plants with Zn-lys application. Overall, a high concentration of tannery wastewater adversely affected the plant growth, but the supplementation of Zn-lys assertively affected the plant growth and enhanced the nutritional quality, by enhancing Zn and decreasing Cr levels in plants simultaneously irrigated with tannery wastewater.

This chapter elaborates dependency of leguminous plants on rhizobia to carry out dynamic process of nitrogen fixation. Soybean, an extensively grown leguminous crop with 30% share in world’s vegetable oil, is taken into account to understand its symbiotic relationship with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs). This chapter narrates colonization of PGPRs on soybean roots and single and mixed inoculation and coinoculation of certain strains of specialized bacteria with rhizobia. PGPRs’ coinoculation seemed more effective than mono-inoculation and is discussed in Ref. to nodulation rate. Moreover, dynamic linear models for quantification of leguminous biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) are reviewed. This chapter further uncoils the relevance of foliar application to the release of phytohormones by PGPRs, resulting in situ biosynthesis of active metabolites in phyllosphere. Inoculation of phytohormones is compared to their exogenous application for nodule organogenesis. Finally, the influence of coinoculation on enhanced micronutrient bioavailability is relayed. The chapter is concluded with technical and economic aspects of coinoculation in soybean.