Abiotic stress factors, including drought and salinity, severely limit crop productivity worldwide. Furthermore, the extensive use of herbicides, such as glyphosate, disrupts beneficial soil microbiota, further impairing crop growth. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) represent a sustainable and efficient strategy to enhance crop yields, particularly under unfavorable environmental and soil conditions. In this study, we characterized Paenibacillus sp. JSM-10, newly isolated from glyphosate-exposed agricultural soil, for its stress tolerance and plant growth-promoting potential, including its morphology examined using complementary microscopy techniques. The strain tolerated up to 0.5 g/L glyphosate, 15 g/L NaCl, and 100 g/L polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) without significant growth inhibition (p > 0.05), demonstrating robust resilience to such multiple abiotic stresses. Beyond its tolerance, the strain exhibited several beneficial characteristics, including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) synthesis, siderophore production, and inorganic phosphate solubilization. Furthermore, both living cells and culture filtrates of JSM-10 exhibited a positive trend toward enhancing buckwheat growth under normal and saline conditions, with effect sizes ranging from Hedges’ g = 0.56−0.92. In addition, JSM-10 exhibited antagonistic activity against a range of pathogenic microorganisms, including Nigrospora oryzae, Bipolaris sorokiniana, Alternaria spp., and Escherichia coli. Altogether, these characteristics highlight the Paenibacillus sp. JSM-10 strain and its culture filtrates as promising candidates for application in organic farming aimed at promoting plant growth and improving stress tolerance via plant–microbe interactions.

The integration of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) into sustainable agricultural practices represents a promising strategy for improving crop productivity and stress resilience. We characterized two newly isolated steppe-derived, glyphosate-tolerant bacteria, Pseudomonas sp. ADL-13 and Paenibacillus sp. ZHS-9, evaluating their in vitro glyphosate tolerance, PGP potential, and eco-physiological resilience. Pseudomonas sp. ADL-13 exhibited in vitro glyphosate tolerance, displaying significant growth stimulation at glyphosate concentrations of 1.0–2.0 g/L. Paenibacillus sp. ZHS-9 tolerated glyphosate in vitro up to 0.5 g/L without significant growth inhibition while maintaining measurable growth at 1.0 and 2.0 g/L. In wheat seedlings bioassays, cell-free culture filtrates promoted seedling growth, while inoculation with living cultures significantly enhanced biomass accumulation, seedling growth, and vigor. Plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits included P and K solubilization, and siderophore and ammonia production across strains; additionally, putative nitrogen-fixing potential, and IAA-like indolic compounds were detected in ZHS-9. Furthermore, both isolates demonstrated broad tolerance to saline, osmotic and oxidative stresses, pH and temperature fluctuations. Compatibility assays revealed antagonistic activity of ADL-13 toward ZHS-9, emphasizing the importance of evaluating strain interactions. Collectively, these findings indicate that ADL-13 and ZHS-9 are potential PGPB candidates for further evaluation in agricultural applications.

Timely detection and accurate identification of crop pathogens are considered fundamental components of sustainable agricultural systems alarming prompt and effective crop protection management. The cutting-edge CRISPR/Cas12a technology is emerging as a nucleic-acid-based platform with high potential for rapid, sensitive, and specific phytopathogen detection. In this study, we aimed to develop a CRISPR/Cas12a-based method to detect Fusarium spp., targeting the acl1 gene. A plasmid carrying the target gene fragment was successfully amplified using Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA), confirming the feasibility of integrating this isothermal amplification with the CRISPR/Cas12a detection method. Optimization of the CRISPR-Cas12a reaction revealed optimal conditions at 100 nM MbCas12a, 100 nM crRNA, and 5 µM ssDNA reporter. Sensitivity assays demonstrated reliable detection of the acl1 gene up to 1:1000 dilution. Specificity evaluation involving different plant-pathogenic fungal species confirmed the high specificity of the developed method. Altogether, this study highlights the potential of the CRISPR/Cas12a-based system as a promising diagnostic approach for agricultural applications to detect Fusarium spp.