Efficacy of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria to Improve the Biochemical Properties and Development of Wheat Seedlings under Drought Stress Control

Abstract

The most significant cereal crop is wheat, which ranks third among the world's most demanding staple crops after rice and maize. Temperate climates with moderate rainfall are ideal for growing it. Under the current changing climate, abiotic stress conditions, particularly drought conditions, have a significant impact on wheat crop productivity. Plants under drought stress have less water accessible to them, which slows down germination, growth, and yield. In this study, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is used to boost the drought tolerance capability of the wheat plant. PGPR isolate KD-3B strain is used to investigate the plant growth characteristic such as, mineral solubilization (zinc, phosphate, and potassium), ammonia production, indole acetic acid (IAA), and the enzyme 1-carboxylic acid (ACC). Moreover, the plant showed drought tolerance at polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) concentrations of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% (w/v). Wheat seedlings were exposed to both normal and drought conditions when they interacted with the KD-3B bacterial strain, which possesses many features that promote plant development. In comparison to growth in a non-PEG condition, this strain is tested for relative growth up to 41.05% in a 25% PEG concentration. When inoculum of KD-3B bacterial strain used under normal and drought conditions, the relationship between microbes and plants was examine in wheat seedlings grown under hydroponic condition. Under drought stress condition significant changes were observed in the morphological and biochemical conditions of seedlings. This research concluded that, in drought stress condition, PGPR KD-3B strain inoculated seedlings showed increased chlorophyll content, TSS content, malondialdehyde concentration and decreased proline, H2O2 content, SOD and POD activities, as compared to the negative control seedlings. The PGPR stain KD-3B improved their biochemical and physiological parameters and plant microbe interaction decreased the deleterious effect of drought on wheat seedlings.