In vitro PGPR properties and osmotic tolerance of different Azospirillum native strains and their effects on growth of maize under drought stress

Abstract

Osmotic variations in the soil can affect bacterial growth diminishing the number ofinoculated bacteria. In a scenario of water deficit having tolerant bacteria would bebeneficial to achieve a better response of the plant to stress. Thus, selection of moreresistant bacteria could be useful to design new inoculants to be used in arid zones. In thissense, a group of Azospirillum isolates deposited in INTA collection was characterized inorder to select strains tolerant to osmotic stress. The results obtained demonstrated that Az19 strain has similar in vitro PGPR characteristics to Az39, the most used strain inArgentina for inoculants industries, with the advantage of a better tolerance to osmotic andsalt stress. Inoculation of maize plants with this strain resulted in a better response againstwater deficit compared to Az39 strain, encouraging us to further study the behavior of thisstrain in greenhouse and field trials in view of developing new inoculants suitable for areaswith water deficit.