Isolation and Characterization of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria from different Soil Layers of Sunflower Crop

Abstract

Sunflower is one of the four major oilseed crops produced in Pakistan as well as in the globe and it ranks 3rd after peanuts and soybean in contributing to edible oil production across the globe. The Genus Rhizobium is an example of a growth-promoting organisms and is the one of the most widely known group used for growth promotion. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) has been successfully commercialized with much practical application in agriculture by developing symbiosis with plants. Rhizospheric, rhizoplanic, and endorizoplanic soils were collected from sunflower fields grown at different sites in NARC as they are habitat of PGPR. Ammonia production, HCN production, IAA production, siderophore production, phosphate solubilization, protease production, pectinase production, amylase production, catalase production, and mycelial growth inhibition were recorded during this study. From the samples, 39 strains were tested against all the above-mentioned criterions. All strains exhibited at least one trait amongst the above-mentioned traits. This make these strains as potential plant growth promoting rhizobacteria candidate and their commercial application can be explored for large scale utilization.