PGPR-Mediated Salt Tolerance in Maize by Modulating Plant Physiology, Antioxidant Defense, Compatible Solutes Accumulation and Bio-Surfactant Producing Genes

Salinity stress is a barrier to crop production, quality yield, and sustainable agriculture. The current study investigated the plant growth promotion, biochemical and molecular characterization of bacterial strain PM23 under salinity stress (i.e., 0, 300, 600, and 900 mM). PM23 showed tolerance of up to 3 M NaCl when subjected to salinity stress. Antibiotic-resistant Iturin C ) and bio-surfactant-producing genes () were amplified in PM23, indicating its multi-stress resistance potential under biotic and abiotic stresses. Moreover, the upregulation of stress-related genes (APX and SOD) helped to mitigate salinity stress and improved plant growth. Inoculation of PM23 enhanced plant growth, biomass, and photosynthetic pigments under salinity stress. Bacterial strain PM23 showed distinctive salinity tolerance and plant growth-promoting traits such as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), siderophore, ACC deaminase, and exopolysaccharides production under salinity stress. To alleviate salinity stress, PM23 inoculation enhanced radical scavenging capacity, relative water content, soluble sugars, proteins, total phenolic, and flavonoid content in maize compared to uninoculated (control) plants. Moreover, elevated levels of antioxidant enzymes and osmoprotectants (Free amino acids, glycine betaine, and proline) were noticed in PM23 inoculated plants compared to control plants. The inoculation of PM23 significantly reduced oxidative stress markers under salinity stress. These findings suggest that multi-stress tolerant PM23 could enhance plant growth by mitigating salt stress and provide a baseline and ecofriendly approach to address salinity stress for sustainable agriculture.