Enhancing wheat growth and nutrient content through integrated microbial and non-microbial biostimulants

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Microbiology
• Plant Science

Background:

• Developing effective bioinoculants is crucial for sustainable agriculture.
• Plant growth-promoting bacteria and microbial community formation traits are key for enhancing crop productivity.
• Integrating microbial communities with non-microbial biostimulants like humic acid and seaweed extract shows promise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a selected, functionally competent bacterial community.
• To integrate this synthetic microbial community (SM) with humic acid (HA) and seaweed extract (SWE).
• To validate the efficacy of these integrated bioinoculants in enhancing wheat growth and nutrient content.

Main Methods:

• Screening of 92 wheat and maize-associated bacterial isolates for Plant Growth-Promoting traits (PGPts) and Community-Forming traits (CFts).
• Selection of 11 isolates based on trait performance and compatibility to form a synthetic microbial community (SM).
• Integration of SM with optimal concentrations of humic acid (0.2%) and seaweed extract (1%) to create SynBio1 (SM+HA) and SynBio2 (SM+SWE), followed by microcosm and field validation.

Main Results:

• SynBio1 and SynBio2 significantly improved wheat germination rates (90.10% and 83.80%, respectively).
• SynBio1 notably increased chlorophyll content (40.5 SPAD units), root length (15.7%), and shoot length (18.4%) in microcosm studies.
• Field validation showed SynBio1 enhanced plant height (15.76%), root length (27.16%), flag leaf length (21.35%), and grain yield (40.41%) compared to control, with significant improvements in seed macro- and micronutrient content.

Conclusions:

• The integration of a synthetic microbial community with humic acid and seaweed extract biostimulants is a viable strategy for enhancing wheat productivity.
• The developed bioinoculants (SynBio1 and SynBio2) demonstrate significant potential for improving crop yield and nutritional value.
• These findings pave the way for novel bioinoculant development, promoting sustainable agriculture and environmental health.