Isolation and characterization of Ni mobilizing PGPB from serpentine soils and their potential in promoting plant growth and Ni accumulation by Brassica spp.

The study was undertaken to assess the effects of Ni mobilizing bacteria on the plant growth and the uptake of Ni by Brassica juncea and Brassica oxyrrhina. Among a collection of Ni resistant bacterial strains isolated from the non-rhizosphere and rhizosphere soils of Alyssum serpyllifolium and Astragalus incanus at a serpentine site in Bragança, north-east of Portugal, nine strains were selected based on their ability to solubilize Ni in soil. Further assessment on plant growth-promoting parameters revealed the intrinsic ability of the Ni mobilizing strains to produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), siderophores, utilize 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) as the sole N source and solubilize insoluble phosphate. All of the strains tested positive for IAA production and phosphate solubilization. In addition, all the strains, except SRS5 exhibited significant levels of siderophore production. Besides, five isolates showed positive for ACC deaminase activity. In pot experiments, inoculation of plants with Ni mobilizing strains increased the biomass of both B. juncea and B. oxyrrhina. Among the strains, Pseudomonas sp. SRI2, Psychrobacter sp. SRS8 and Bacillus sp. SN9 showed maximum increase in the biomass of the test plants. In addition, the strain SN9 significantly increased the Ni concentration in the root and shoot tissues of B. juncea and B. oxyrrhina. Further, a significantly positive correlation was observed between the bacterial Ni mobilization in soil and the total Ni uptake in both plant species. The findings, therefore, revealed that inoculation of Ni mobilizing plant growth-promoting bacterial strain SN9 increases the efficiency of phytoextraction directly by enhancing Ni accumulation in plant tissues and indirectly by promoting the shoot and root biomass of B. juncea and B. oxyrrhina.