Isolation of fluorescent pseudomonads from rhizosphere soil was carried out by employing serial dilution and plating on King’s B selective media. It may be attributed to specific choice of media employed for isolation
viz., Nutrient agar and King’s B. Several others hence supported to use King’s B medium for isolation of fluorescent
Pseudomonad sp.
(King et al., 1954). For the isolation of pseudomonads and fluorescent
Pseudomonad sp., TSA and King’s B agar medium were also used (
Raaijmakers and Weller, 1998). Total of eight FP isolates were obtained from the rhizosphere soil samples collected from the major soybean growing areas of Dharwad and Belagavi districts of Karnataka.
All eight isolates were used to study morphological traits. The colony morphology of isolates was found to be round to irregular shape and the irregular shaped colonies were found to be spreading type (Table 1). All the eight isolates exhibited fluorescence under UV light. However variations with respect to intensity of fluorescence and colony morphology were observed. Fluorescence is an important trait for identification, characterization and grouping of fluorescent pseudomonads (
Brown and Lowbury, 1968). Among the isolates majority of the isolates produced light green to green pigmented colonies, while some of the isolates appeared to have yellowish orange colonies. It is reported from earlier studies that some pigments such as carotenoids produced by pseudomonad species do not diffuse in to the medium and such colonies were found to have yellowish green colour which could resemble other fluorescing pigments (
Indi, 2010).
The cell morphological studies and the gram reaction test revealed that all the 8 isolates were rod shaped and displayed a negative reaction for the gram staining.
The biochemical characterization indicated that out of eight isolates, four were positive for starch hydrolysis and two for arginine hydrolysis, six for oxidase test, five were positive for gelatin liquefaction and seven exhibited the denitrification ability (Table 2). These results are in conformity with
Singh et al., (2013), who reported that out of seventeen isolates, seven isolates were identified to be
Pseudomonas sp. on the basis of their cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics.
All the isolates were also examined for their functional properties like, P-solubilization, production of plant growth promoting substances, HCN production, siderophore production and their biocontrol potential. All the isolates were able to produce clear zone of P-solubilization (TCP) on Pikovskaya’s agar medium. These isolates displayed wide variations in the diameter of the zone of solubilization, which varied from 18.80-21.71mm (Table 3). The extent of zone of solubilization may or may not correlate with the amount of P solubilized
(Rashid et al., 2004). Isolates of
Pseudomonas fluorescens species differ in the ability to produce phosphatase enzyme and production of organic acids and hence showed different solubilization efficiency
(Priyanka et al., 2017).
All isolates were screened for their ability to produce IAA and GA. All the fluorescent pseudomonads in the present study produced significantly varying quantities of IAA (19.97 µg to 28.89 µg IAA/25 ml of broth). Among the isolates, DFP48 recorded highest IAA production of 28.89 µg/25ml. Isolates from the rhizosphere are more efficient auxin producers than isolates from the bulk soil (
Sarwar and Kremer, 1992) and IAA production by PGPR can vary among different species and strains, and it is also influenced by culture condition, growth stage and substrate availability
(Mirza et al., 2001). The amount of GA production by different FP isolates ranged from 12.19 to 18.52 µg/25 ml of broth. The isolate DFP54 was found to produce maximum amount of GA (18.52 µg per 25 ml broth).
Fluorescent pseudomonads offer an interesting biological system with their ability to promote plant growth directly through production of plant growth promoting substances (IAA and GA) and indirectly through control of plant pathogens and deleterious organisms or both
(Bakthavatchalu et al., 2012). Seed bacterization with such organisms has emerged as a powerful technology to enhance plant growth and yield, besides providing protection against diseases.
The fluorescent pseudomonads have been the most widely studied group of PGPR with respect to biocontrol of soil borne plant pathogens. The increased interest in the fluorescent
Pseudomonad sp. in worldwide as biocontrol agents gained momentum after the initial studies conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, during the late 1970s
(Weller et al., 1988).
In addition to all the beneficial traits as discussed earlier, the isolates were used to study their antagonistic potential against fungal pathogen
Sclerotium rolfsii of soybean under
in vitro condition using dual plate technique (
Vincent, 1947).
All the isolates showed antagonistic activity against
Sclerotium rolfsii. The per cent inhibition of 36.85 to 70.37 was recorded by the isolates. The maximum per cent inhibition of 70.37 was observed in the isolate BFP22. The isolates BFP38 and DFP48 were next highest with per cent inhibition of 60.93 and 58.89 respectively.
These observations were in line with the earlier reports on fluorescent pseudomonads against plant pathogenic fungi like
Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, Macrophomina, Pyricularia, Alternaria, Sclerotium, Colletotrichum, Pythium and
Phytophthora (Ahmadzadeh
et al., 2006;
Kandoliya and Vakharia, 2013;
Rakh, 2011;
Vishwanath et al., 2012; Manivannan et al., 2012 and
Prasad et al., 2013).
Some rhizobacteria promote plant growth by production of siderophores. The role of sidrophore production in plant growth promotion is described by two mechanisms: one is direct supply of iron to plant; the other is indirect, in depriving fungal pathogens to iron. In the present study, all the isolates were found positive for siderophore production; however the zone of clearance on CAS agar ranged from 21.97-36.37 mm. The isolate DFP54 showed maximum zone of clearance of 36.37 mm on CAS agar media. The next highest zone of clearance (29.23 mm) was recorded by the isolate DFP48 followed by DFP62 (26.70 mm). Similarly, all the isolates were found to be strong (+++) HCN producers.
Biocontrol potential and plant growth promotional ability of selected fluorescent pseudomonads on soybean challenge inoculated with S. rolfsii under pot culture condition
Five FP isolates were selected for pot culture studies based on their ability to produce IAA, GA, HCN and siderophore production and dual plate assay against
S. rolfsii causing collar or root rot disease in soybean. It was also focused to assess the ability of antagonistic isolates for biocontrol potential as well as plant growth promotion.
Per cent seedling emergence
All the treatments had a considerable influence on the seedling emergence (Table 4). Among the treatments, T
5 (DFP62) recorded highest per cent seedling emergence (90.11) followed by the treatment T
4 (DFP47) (89.87) which was on par with T
2 (BFP38+
S. rolfsii) (38.27 cm). Lowest plant height of 18.42 cm was recorded in the treatment T
7 (S
. rolfsii) which was lesser than the treatment T
8 (absolute control) (33.80 cm).
Number of branches
At 90 DAS, the treatment T
3 (DFP48+
S. rolfsii) showed significantly higher number of braches per plant (11.82) over all other treatments. The treatments T
4 (DFP47+
S. rolfsii) (11.04), T5 (DFP62+
S. rolfsii) (10.92), T
6 (carboxin 37.5%+Thiram 37.5%+
S. rolfsii) (10.89) and T
2 (BFP38+
S. rolfsii) (10.73) were on par with each other. Lowest number of branches was observed in T
7 (
S. rolfsii) (9.96).
Nodule number
At 60 DAS, considerably increase in the number of nodules was observed. The maximum number of nodules of 15.67 was recorded by the treatment T
3 (DFP48 +
S. rolfsii), which was on par with T
5 (DFP62 +
S. rolfsii) (14.00), T
2 (BFP38 +
S. rolfsii) (13.67) and T
1 (BFP22 +
S. rolfsii) (13.00). (
S. rolfsii) (T
7) recorded the lowest nodule number of 8.50.
At 90 DAS, significantly higher number of nodules were recorded in T
5 (DFP62+
S. rolfsii) (17.67) which was on par with T
3 (DFP48+
S. rolfsii) (17.33), T
2 (BFP38+
S. rolfsii) (15.50), T
4 (DFP47+
S. rolfsii) (15.33) and T
1 (BFP22+
S. rolfsii) (15.17). The least number of nodules (9.67) were observed in T
7 (
S. rolfsii).
Total dry matter production
At harvesting stage, the treatment T
3 (DFP48+
S. rolfsii) achieved significantly highest dry matter production (7.57 g/plant) over all other treatments, which was followed by the treatment T
5 (DFP62 +
S. rolfsii) (5.75 g/ plant) and T
4 (DFP47+
S. rolfsii) (5.58 g/plant). All the treatments with FP inoculation performed very well with respect to total dry matter production compare to the pathogen (
S. rolfsii) alone inoculated treatment (T
7) (3.02 g/plant) and absolute control (T
8) (4.49 g/plant).
Effect of efficient fluorescent pseudomonad isolate on yield parameters of soybean challenge inoculated with S. rolfsii
Number of pods per plant
Data pertaining to the number of pods per plant is presented in Table 7. Significantly highest number of pods per plant were recorded in treatment T
3 (DFP48 +
S. rolfsii) (19.30) over all other treatments, which was followed by the treatment T
2 (BFP48+
S. rolfsii), (16.17) which is on par with T
4 (DFP47+
S. rolfsii) (15.80). Lowest pods (8.97) were observed in T
7 treatment compared to T
6 (carboxin 37.5%+Thiram 37.5%+
S. rolfsii) 10.90/plant.
At harvest, all the treatments differed significantly with respect to number of pods. Significantly highest numbers of pods were observed in T
3, which was followed by T
2 and T
4.
Number of seeds/plant
The results pertaining to pod weight / plant is presented in Table 7. The treatment T
3 (DFP48+
S. rolfsii) recorded higher number of seeds/plant (55.77) and was significantly superior over all other treatments. It was followed by the treatment T
5 (DFP62 +
S. rolfsii) which recorded 46.17 number of seeds/plant which was on par with T
2 (BFP38+
S. rolfsii) (45.87). Pathogen inoculated treatment (T
7) recorded lowest number of seeds/plant (28.30). Whereas T
8 (absolute control) recorded 33.47 number of seeds/plant.
Seed weight (g/plant)
The treatments had a significant influence on the weight of seeds/plant (Table 7). The treatment T
3 (DFP48+
S. rolfsii) recorded significantly highest seed weight of 9.23 g/plant over all other treatments, which was followed by the treatment T
2 (BFP38+
S. rolfsii) with seed weight of 7.87 g/plant. T
8 (absolute control) recorded the seed weight of 6.00 g/plant which is slightly higher than the pathogen inoculated treatment (T
7) (5.00 g).
The higher plant height, nodule number, dry matter production, number of pods, number of seeds, seed weight compared to control clearly showed the beneficial role of these rhizobacteria, which might be attributed to IAA, production, P-solubilization and many other PGPR activity in favour of plant growth response.
Saravanakumar et al., (2007a) also showed that inoculation with fluorescent
Pseudomonas induced a significant increase in root and shoot length over the uninoculated control.
Pseudomonas fluorescens has been shown to increase seed germination, root and shoot length and seedling vigour in several instances
(Ramamoorthy et al., 2002; Khalid et al., 2003; Egamberdieva, 2008).
Pseudomonas spp. was reported to produce amino acids, salicylic acid and IAA (
Sivamani and Gnanamanickam, 1988;
Osullivan and Ogara, 1992) which might have improved the plant growth and seedling vigour.