Relationship between in vitro production of auxins by rhizobacteria and their growth-promoting activities in Brassica juncea L.

Rhizobacteria were isolated from the rhizosphere of different Brassica species and assayed for their ability to produce auxins in vitro. The isolates varied greatly in their potential for auxin production (ranging from 0.33 to 11.40 mug ml(-1)). L-Tryptophan (an auxin precursor) addition to the media increased the auxin production by several fold. Based upon in vitro auxin production and growth promotion of B. juncea seedlings caused by various isolates under gnotobiotic conditions, promising isolates were selected and tested in pot trial to observe their effects on growth, yield and oil content of the same Brassica species. Results showed that seed inoculation with different isolates of rhizobacteria significantly increased plant height (up to 56.5%), stem diameter (up to 11.0%), number of branches (up to 35.7%), number of pods per plant (up to 26.7%), 1,000-grain weight (up to 33.9%), grain yield (up to 45.4%) and oil content (up to 5.6%) over the uninoculated control. Isolate S54 gave the most promising and consistent results. Highly significant correlations between L-TRP-derived auxin production by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in vitro and grain yield (r = 0.77**), number of pods (r = 0.78**) and number of branches per plant (r = 0.77**) of B. juncea were found. It was hypothesized that these PGPR may influence the growth and yield of inoculated plants by production of auxins in the rhizosphere of inoculated plants from the L-TRP present in the root exudates, although other mechanisms of action might have also contributed.