Exploring the potential of actinobacteria as plant growth promoters in cowpea
Abstract
The study includes isolation, characterization, and evaluation of actinobacteria for plant growth promotion in cowpea. Actinobacteria were obtained from four soil and three compost samples on starch casein agar and a total of 50 morphotypeswere maintained including 21 isolates from the Department of Agricultural Microbiology repository, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), Thrissur, Kerala. All the 50 isolates were subjected to screening for direct plant growth-promoting (PGP) activities including nitrogen fixation, phosphate, potassium and zinc solubilization, and production of indole-3- acetic acid. Indirect PGP activities including production of hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and siderophores were also tested under in vitro conditions. Compatibility among isolates were tested via cross-streak method and five actinobacterial consortia were developed for further in planta studies. A total of 29 actinobacterial isolates were obtained from rhizosphere soil and compost samples, with cowpea rhizosphere soil exhibiting the highest population. Based on in vitro screening and PGP hierarchial ranking of all the 50 isolates, 15 isolates with PGP ability were selected for further cultural, biochemical and morphological characterization. The evaluation of five compatible consortia led to significant improvement in growth and yield parameters of cowpea as compared with treatment of PGPR Mix 1 and control (P d” .05). The T2 consortium (Streptomyces sp.strain DPS-7 and Streptomyces sp. strain Cc-5) recorded significantly the highest number of pods (23.8), number of seeds per pod (12.1), test weight (22.8 g), fresh (120.2 g) and dry weight (15.6 g) of pods, indicating their potential benefits for plant growth and yield. This research suggested actinobacterial consortia as viable biofertilizers, enhancing the growth of cowpea and contributing to environmentally sustainable agriculture.
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