Anthropogenic activities causing climate change and other environmental effects are lowering crop yield by deteriorating the growing environment for crops. Rice, a globally important cereal crop, is under production threat due to climate change and land degradation. This research aims to sustainably improve rice growth and yield by using Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a plant growth-promoting bacteria that has recently gained much attention in crop production. The experiment was set up in two fields, one as a control and the other as a PNSB-treated field. The foliar application of treatment was made fortnightly until the end of the vegetative stage. Data on the growth, yield, and antioxidant enzymes were collected weekly. The results of this experiment indicate no significant differences in the plant height, root volume, average grain per panicle, biological yield, grain fertility, and antioxidant enzyme activity between the PNSB-treated and untreated plants. However, a significant increase in the tiller number, leaf chlorophyll content and lodging resistance were noted with PNSB treatment. Likewise, PNSB-treatment significantly increased root length (25%), root dry weight (57%), productive tillers per plants (26%), average grains per plant (38%), grain yield (33%), 1000 grain weight (1.6%), and harvest index (41%). Hence, from this research, it can be concluded that foliar application of PNSB on rice crops under field conditions improves crop growth and yield, although it does not affect antioxidant enzyme activity.

Cereal grains and tubers are among the highly consumed staple foods globally; however, due to unfavorable weather conditions and the competition for natural resources, the major staple cereal crops, such as rice, are under production threat. On the other hand, the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase crop yield is deteriorating the growing environment for plants and animals, including humans. As such, sustainable management practices are the key method that can be employed to increase crop production without harming the environment. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), such as the purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB), have recently gained much attention in crop production due to their ability to accumulate higher-value compounds that are highly beneficial to crops. Some of the major benefits PNSB holds are that it can fix atmospheric nitrogen, solubilize phosphate, remediate heavy metals, suppress methane emissions from waterlogged paddy fields, and assist in carbon sequestration. These benefits allow PNSB to be an important bacterium for improving plant growth and yield much more sustainably while benefiting the environment. This review article discusses the beneficial effects of PNSB on rice crop plants through careful screening of previous work in this area. The review also identifies the research gaps and suggests future research pathways to make PNSB an important bacteria for sustainable rice crop production. The review paper aims for the United Nation’s sustainable development goal number two, “Zero Hunger,” target 2.4, indicator 2.4.1, “Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture”.

Using beneficial microorganisms, such as purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB), has shown enormous potential for improving plant growth and agricultural production. However, the full extent of their benefits and interactions with agricultural practices is yet to be fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the use of PNSB in crop rotation practice, focusing on its impact on rice growth and yield. The experiment was conducted over two rice cropping seasons, with djulis grown between the rice as a rotation crop. The study shows that PNSB treatment increased the concentration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) in plants, indicating enhanced photosynthesis. Moreover, when combined with crop rotation, PNSB remarkably improved soil fertility. These combined benefits resulted in substantial increases in tiller numbers (163%), leaf chlorophyll content (13%), and lodging resistance (66%), compared to the untreated plants. The combined treatment also resulted in higher productive tillers per hill (112%), average grain per hill (65%), and grain fertility (26%). This led to increased grain yield (65%), shoot dry weight (15%), and harvest index (37%). The findings clearly suggest that the incorporation of PNSB in crop rotation strategies can significantly augment the growth and yield of rice crops. These insights, pivotal for sustainable rice cultivation, hold the potential to simultaneously tackle the pressing issues of global food security and climate change.

Aquaponics is a human-made recirculating ecosystem that integrates the cultivation of crops and aquaculture to produce higher-quality, safe, and nutritious food. However, limited studies have been conducted to investigate the performance of different aquaponic plant growing systems. As such, the current research focuses on evaluating the overall performance of four different aquaponic growing systems in the growth and yield of lettuce and pak choi. The data on the shoot and root biomass and growth parameters were collected, and the growth analysis was performed. The relative growth rate results indicated that the appropriate environmental conditions were provided for lettuce and pak choi to grow successfully in all the four aquaponic growing systems. The crop growth rate results revealed that all four aquaponic growing systems tested in this experiment were able to grow crops and provide yield successfully. However, the substrate-based closed capillary water distribution system (CCWD) had the best overall result, which showed great potential for aquaponic applications to promote alternative agriculture production under unfavored climate conditions.