ALLEVIATION OF IMPACTS OF SALT STRESS ON THE GROWTH PARAMETERS OF GROUNDNUT (ARACHIS HYPOGAEA L.) EMPLOYING HALOTOLERANT PGPR

Bacteria surrounding plant roots and providing a stimulatory effect to the plants are termed Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). They are highly beneficial microorganisms which can be utilized to enhance plant responses against biotic and abiotic stresses. The present study involves the isolation of thirty five isolates from the rhizosphere of groundnut plants from Jodia (or Jodiya) Gujarat. The isolates were screened for salinity tolerance and observed that all were able to grow upto 6% NaCl and twenty two isolates had shown growth upto 12% NaCl concentration. All the isolates were further screened for Plant growth promoting traits out of which PGPR J9 exhibited all traits including hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, siderophore, chitinase, indole acetic acid production, phosphate solubilization and nitrogen fixation positive. The isolate J9 was further used for pot experiment and showed augmentation in growth of physical parameters (shoot length, root length, dry weight, wet weight, number of leaves, number of stems, leaf area) of plant under salt stress and without salt stress (100mM) with reference to controls. Thus this isolate may reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and give input in enhancing the growth of plant in salt stress