Isolation and characterization of plant growth promoting bacteria
Keywords:
plant growth, bacteria, nitrogen-fixing, pseudomonasAbstract
The widespread use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture has contributed to increased crop yields but at the expense of environmental health. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) offer a sustainable alternative by enhancing plant productivity through natural mechanisms. This study aimed to isolate and characterize nitrogen-fixing PGPB from rhizosphere and rhizoplane soil samples. Bacterial isolates were identified through morphological and biochemical analyses, including indole production, catalase activity, citrate utilization, MR-VP tests, and sugar fermentation. The identified strains included Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Neisseria ricca, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella epidermidis. Several isolates demonstrated significant traits related to plant growth promotion, such as indole acetic acid (IAA) and ammonia production, catalase activity, and hydrogen cyanide synthesis. Among them, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Aspergillus niger showed strong potential as biofertilizer candidates. These findings support the potential application of PGPB as eco-friendly alternatives to chemical fertilizers for improving plant health and sustainable crop production.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Zobia Khalid, Muafia Shafiq, Farzana Bashir, Nadeem Iqbal (Author)
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Phytum is an open access journal. There is no registration required to read any article. All published articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC Attribution 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
