Toxicological effects of selective herbicides on plant growth promoting activities of phosphate solubilizing Klebsiella sp. strain PS19.

This study examines the effect of four herbicides, quizalafop-p-ethyl, clodinafop, metribuzin and glyphosate, on plant growth promoting activities like phosphate solubilization, siderophores, indole acetic acid, exo-polysaccharides, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia production by herbicide tolerant Klebsiella sp. strain PS19. The strain was isolated from mustard rhizosphere. The selected herbicides were applied two to three times at the recommended rates. Klebsiella sp. strain PS19 tolerated a concentration of 1600 μg/ml each of quizalafop-p-ethyl and clodinafop, and 3200 and 2800 μg/ml of metribuzin and glyphosate, respectively. The activities of Klebsiella sp. strain PS19 observed under in vitro environment were persistent in the presence of all herbicides at lower rates. The plant growth promoting activities even-though decreased regularly, but was not lost completely, as the concentration of each herbicide was increased from the recommended to three times of higher doses. Among all herbicides, quizalafop-p-ethyl, generally, showed maximum toxicity to plant growth promoting activities of Klebsiella sp. strain PS19. As an example, 40, 80 and 120 μg/l of quizalafop-p-ethyl added to liquid culture Pikovskaya medium, decreased phosphate solubilizing activity of strain PS19 by 93, 95 and 97%, respectively over untreated control. The study revealed that the higher rates of herbicides though decreased the plant growth promoting activity but it did not completely inhibit the metabolic activities of strain PS19. The herbicide tolerance together with growth promoting activities observed under herbicide stress suggests that Klebsiella sp. strain PS19 could be used as bacterial preparation for facilitating the growth and yields of crops even in soils polluted with herbicides.