ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1638366
This article is part of the Research TopicSoil Biodiversity and Regenerative Agriculture: The Path to Achieve SDGsView all 6 articles
Mitigation of salinity induced negative impacts by salt tolerant plant growth promoting rhizobacteria Bacillus flexus in mustard (Brassica juncea L.)
Provisionally accepted
Anjali Singh*
Vishal Prasad- Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
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Salinity is a major environmental stressor affecting crop productivity worldwide and a substantial portion of the agricultural ecosystem supporting cultivation of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) in Indian subcontinent is salinity stricken. However, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria has been noted to modulate salinity stress in plants through numerous direct and indirect mechanisms. Therefore, the present study was intended to determine the potential of a salt tolerant plant growth promoting rhizobacteria Bacillus flexus on alleviating the negative effects of salinity stress in mustard. The evaluation of germination percentage, growth parameters, and pigment content (chlorophyll and carotenoids) along with biochemical properties and antioxidant enzyme activities of mustard was studied by biopriming the seeds with Bacillus flexus both in absence and presence of salinity (100 mM NaCl) stress. The obtained results revealed a significant improvement in germination percentage and growth parameters (shoot length, root length, biomass and leaf area) of bioprimed mustard seedling both in presence and absence of salt stress. The biochemical properties such as pigment content, proline, total soluble protein, and total soluble sugar were found improved in bacterial treated seeds in comparison to control both in presence and absence of salinity stress. The percentage of electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) content was found decreased in bacterial treated plants under salinity induced condition as compared with nontreated plants. The antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), peroxidise (POX) and ascorbate peroxidise (APX) activities were found elevated in bacterial treated seeds in comparison to control both in presence and absence of salinity stress. The results obtained from the study revealed the protective and growth promoting abilities of Bacillus flexus against salinity stress. The bacterial strain used in the present study proved to be a promising candidate for improving mustard growth in soils challenged with salinity stress.
Keywords: Bacillus flexus, Biopriming, mustard, plant growth promoting bacteria, rhizosphere, salinity stress
Received: 30 May 2025; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Singh and Prasad. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anjali Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
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