Endophytic bacteria enhance the growth and salt tolerance of rice under saline conditions

Developing biostimulants from salt-tolerant plant growth-promoting (PGP) bacteria is an emerging strategy for sustainable agriculture in the context of increasing soil salinization. This study aimed to isolate endophytic (EB) capable promoting rice seed germination and seedling growth at different NaCl concentrations. Nine EB strains were isolated two, ST.6 ST.8, with effect 99.3 99.7 %, respectively, selected identified as Pantoea dispersa Burkholderia cenocepacia, respectively. showed a higher value activity phosphatase (617 mg P ml-1), production indole-3-acetic acid (19.7 µg IAA 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic (ACC) deaminase (13.5 µmol mg−1 protein h−1), siderophore (76.3 %). Especially, seedlings inoculated strain significant improvement root length (58.95 %), shoot (16.6 dry biomass (7.0 content chlorophyll (46.2 57.1 % b, respectively), carotenoids (22.2%), proline (19.0 A decrease antioxidant enzyme activities was also observed either or ST.8 under salt stress. Furthermore, stress condition enhanced colonization roots by both studied bacteria. More experiments should be done develop efficient bio-inoculants.