Efficacy of Rhizobium and Pseudomonas strains to improve physiology, ionic balance and quality of mung bean under salt-affected conditions on farmer's fields

High ethylene concentration under different environmental stresses such as salinity is one of the contributing factors for premature senescence of different plant parts. Plants under salinity stress produce increased levels of ethylene which inhibit the plant growth and physiology thus deteriorating the quality of the produce. Some plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have the ability to improve quality of crops through reduction in detrimental effects of salinity on plant growth and physiology by lowering endogenous level of ethylene along with other mechanisms. Two field trials were conducted to evaluate the Rhizobium and Pseudomonas containing ACC-deaminase for their efficacy to reduce the effect of salinity on physiology, ionic and nutrient balance of mung bean. Results showed that salinity stress adversely affected the physiological parameters of mung bean. It decreased the CO2 assimilation, stomatal conductance of water, relative water content, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and chlorophyll contents in mung bean but inoculation of either Rhizobium or Pseudomonas alone reduced adverse effect of salinity significantly. However, co-inoculation with Rhizobium and Pseudomonas was the most effective treatment and it diluted the adverse effects of salinity on relative water contents and CO2 assimilation rate thus improving the photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency and chlorophyll content over the un-inoculated control. Co-inoculation improved the ionic balance and also increased the phosphorus and protein concentration in grain of mung bean. The results suggested that these strains could be effectively used to improve the growth, physiology and quality of mung bean under salt-affected conditions. (c) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.