Improvement of growth, fruit weight and early blight disease protection of tomato plants by rhizosphere bacteria is correlated with their beneficial traits and induced biosynthesis of antioxidant peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase.

Five plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) of different genera, newly isolated from healthy tomato rhizosphere, were characterized with phosphate solubilizing and root colonizing ability. Treatment with these isolates recorded a significant increase in seed germination and seedling vigor as well as tomato growth and fruit weight which might be partly attributed to the ability of the PGPRs to produce IAA and enhance nutrient uptake and chlorophyll content in treated plants. More importantly, a strong protection against early blight disease was observed in PGPR-pretreated tomato plants infected with Alternaria solani which is in accordance with the presence of siderophores, HCN, chitinase and glucanase in the isolated PGPRs. Additionally, a significantly enhanced accumulation of antioxidant peroxidase (POX) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes was observed in the PGPR-pretreated plants with or without pathogen infection in comparison with water or pathogen control. Notably, the highest increase in POX and PPO accumulations was recorded in tomato plants raised from seeds primed with TN_Vel-35 strain. A significant upregulation of POX and PPO in tomato plants subjected to similar treatment with TN_Vel-35 versus respective control was also noticed, further strengthening that the PGPR-induced POX and PPO biosyntheses also contribute to PGPR-mediated protection against early blight disease in tomato plants.