Abstract
Abstract Mitigation strategies based on plant–microbe interactions to increase the performance of plants under water-deficit conditions are well documented. However, little is known about a suitable consortium of bacterial inoculants and underlying physiological and enzymatic events to improve drought tolerance in maize. We performed laboratory and pot experiments to understand the synergistic interactions among plant growth-promoting bacteria to alleviate the drought-induced damages in maize. Initially, ten bacterial strains were evaluated for their osmotic stress tolerance capacity by growing them in a media containing 0, 10, 20, and 30% polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000). Also, the seeds of a drought tolerant (NK-6654) and sensitive (SD-626) maize cultivar were inoculated with these bacterial strains in the first pot experiment to determine their effects on the growth and physiological processes. Later, in the second pot experiment, the best performing inoculants were selected to study the individual and synergistic effects of bacterial inoculation to confer drought tolerance in maize. Our findings showed that the inoculation with tolerant strains resulted in higher photosynthetic activity (25–39%), maintenance of leaf water status (14–18%) and pigments (27–32%), and stimulation of antioxidant machinery (28–38%) than no inoculation in water-stressed maize seedlings. Moreover, the treatment with bacteria consortia further stimulated the drought protective mechanisms and resulted in higher efficiency of photosynthetic (47–61%) and antioxidant systems (42–62%) than the individual inoculants under water-deficit conditions. We conclude that the inoculation with microbial consortia regulates water uptake, photosynthetic performance, and stress metabolites to minimize drought-induced damages in maize.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Tolerant strains raised photosynthetic activity by 25–39% versus no inoculation.
- Treatment
- inoculation with tolerant strainse0
- Interactor
- tolerant strainse0symbiont
- Outcome
- photosynthetic activitye0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 25–39%e0
- Comparator
- no inoculatione0
Zea maysOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“inoculation with tolerant strains resulted in higher photosynthetic activity (25–39%), maintenance of leaf water status (14–18%) and pigments (27–32%), and stimulation of antioxidant machinery (28–38%) than no inoculation in water-stressed maize seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Tolerant strains maintained leaf water status by 14–18%.
- Treatment
- inoculation with tolerant strainse0
- Interactor
- tolerant strainse0symbiont
- Outcome
- leaf water statuse0
- Direction
- maintenancee0
- Value
- 14–18%e0
- Comparator
- no inoculatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“inoculation with tolerant strains resulted in higher photosynthetic activity (25–39%), maintenance of leaf water status (14–18%) and pigments (27–32%), and stimulation of antioxidant machinery (28–38%) than no inoculation in water-stressed maize seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Tolerant strains maintained pigments by 27–32%.
- Treatment
- inoculation with tolerant strainse0
- Interactor
- tolerant strainse0symbiont
- Outcome
- pigmentse0
- Direction
- maintenancee0
- Value
- 27–32%e0
- Comparator
- no inoculatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“inoculation with tolerant strains resulted in higher photosynthetic activity (25–39%), maintenance of leaf water status (14–18%) and pigments (27–32%), and stimulation of antioxidant machinery (28–38%) than no inoculation in water-stressed maize seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Tolerant strains stimulated antioxidant machinery by 28–38%.
- Treatment
- inoculation with tolerant strainse0
- Interactor
- tolerant strainse0symbiont
- Outcome
- antioxidant machinerye0
- Direction
- stimulatione0
- Value
- 28–38%e0
- Comparator
- no inoculatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“inoculation with tolerant strains resulted in higher photosynthetic activity (25–39%), maintenance of leaf water status (14–18%) and pigments (27–32%), and stimulation of antioxidant machinery (28–38%) than no inoculation in water-stressed maize seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterial consortia raised photosynthetic efficiency by 47–61% versus individual inoculants.
- Treatment
- bacteria consortiae0
- Outcome
- efficiency of photosynthetice0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 47–61%e0
- Comparator
- individual inoculantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“treatment with bacteria consortia further stimulated the drought protective mechanisms and resulted in higher efficiency of photosynthetic (47–61%) and antioxidant systems (42–62%) than the individual inoculants under water-deficit conditions”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterial consortia raised antioxidant system efficiency by 42–62%.
- Treatment
- bacteria consortiae0
- Outcome
- antioxidant systemse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 42–62%e0
- Comparator
- individual inoculantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“treatment with bacteria consortia further stimulated the drought protective mechanisms and resulted in higher efficiency of photosynthetic (47–61%) and antioxidant systems (42–62%) than the individual inoculants under water-deficit conditions”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors conclude microbial consortia regulate water uptake, photosynthesis and stress metabolites to reduce drought damage.
- Treatment
- inoculation with microbial consortiae0
- Outcome
- drought-induced damagese0
- Qualifier
- regulates water uptake, photosynthetic performance, and stress metabolitese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“inoculation with microbial consortia regulates water uptake, photosynthetic performance, and stress metabolites to minimize drought-induced damages in maize”
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