Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of

bio-fertilizer

INTRODUCTION:

These are the group of bacteria that could be seen in the rhizosphere and are
known as the promoter of plant growth. It colonizes the part of root and soil
environment called rhizosphere. Rhizosphere shows the maximal activity of
microbes with the confined environment consisting of many essential micro and
macronutrient. Root exudates act as the nutrient source and are responsible for the
difference in microbial population between surrounding and rhizosphere. Weller
and Thomashow in their work have reported that there is approx. 10 to 100 times
increase in microbial population owing to the rich nutrient region of the
rhizosphere. Algae, fungi, protozoa, and bacteria are found to be part of
rhizosphere with the predominant allocation of bacteria in it. Their role has been
proven and introduced by Kloepper and Scroth. PGPR is not only associated with
roots but also counter the effect of phytopathogenic microorganism. Its potential
has been explored in case of an active constituent of biofertilizer. On the basis of
interaction, these PGPR could be separated out in two type’s namely symbiotic and
free living. The fact behind former one is that they live inside plant parts and has a
direct source of interaction regarding exchange of metabolites while later lives
outside. Some symbiotic bacteria usually resides in the intercellular spaces present
in the plant while others could get themselves into mutualistic interaction as a way
to penetrate inside the plant cell. Yet few members could direct plant into the
formation of some specialized structure. Rhizobia, one of the best sort, an example
of the mutualistic association of bacteria and plant. It fixes the atmospheric
nitrogen into a specialized structure called as root nodule. PGPR acts through
various indirect, direct and synergistic approach.
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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
bio-fertilizer

CLASSIFICATION OF PGPR: The classification of PGPR depends on fictional

activities because they can act as biofertilizer, biostimulator, rhizomediator, and
biopesticides.
 Extracellular PGPR:
Extracellular PGPR may exist in the rhizospere and in the rhizoplane or in the
space of cells of the root cortex. The bacterial genera such as Agrobacterium,
Arthobacter, Bacillus, Erwinia, Pseudomonas, and Serratia.
 Intracellular PGPR:
They locate inside the specialized nodular structure of root cells. They belong to
the family of Rhizobacteriaceae includes Allorhizobium, Bradyrhizobium,
Mesorhizobium, and Frankia.

DIRECT AND INDIRECT MECHANISM OF ACTION IN PGPR:

A deep understanding of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria is essential for
taking PGPR to commercial level and for enhancement of plant productivity and
its optimization. PGPR modes of action have been grouped into two subtype’s
basically direct and indirect mechanism. Indirect is consider to be those that are
outside while direct lives in the plant to render their effect on plants metabolism.
Indirect mechanics, we usually either sees the integration of various growth factor
released by microorganism or microorganism could potentially act as the sink of
produced hormone and enhances its adaptive capacity. While indirect mechanism
relay over the secondary metabolites and its sensitivity towards signal released
from the microorganism. It includes, for example, the induction of resistance to the

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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
bio-fertilizer

varied number of pathogen attack or resistance as well as tolerance to varied stress

conditions.

DIRECT MECHANISM OF PGPR:

 Biological Nitrogen Fixation:
A number of species of bacteria have been found associated with rhizosphere
of the plant that adds to the enhancement of plant growth. It includes but not in any
way limited to Erwinia, Azospirillum, Flavobacterium, Bacillus, Alcaligenes,
Arthro-bacter, Rhizobium, Acinetobacter, Burkholderia, Pseudomonas,
Enterobacter, and Serratia. Selection and proliferation of bacteria as a part of root
exudates are done by the plant. The enrichment of bacteria is a function of the
availability of different types of organic matter and their specific concentration.
The selection also depends on the microorganism ability to utilize organic matter
as the source of nutrition. They have an efficient, effective and specific mechanism
for uptake of nutrient along with its break down in the form that could probably
lead to it as the source of nutrition. Bacteria at the very root surface commonly
termed as rhizoplane tend to be more efficient than the others. This mutualistic
interaction is a result of co-evolution, the inoculated material of microorganism
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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
bio-fertilizer

should be verified for their preadaptation. They are further looked up as a

substitute for chemical fertilizer, supplements and pesticides at the same time it
could prove to be effective for reduction in cost as well.

Biological nitrogen fixation provides nitrogen to plant by two mechanism

1. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation
2. Non-symbiotic nitrogen fixation
 Phosphate solubilizing bacteria:
Rhizobium and phosphorus (P) solubilizing bacteria are important to plant
nutrition. These microbes also play a significant role as PGPR in the
biofertilization of crops. These bacteria secrete different types of organic acids
(e.g., carboxylic acid) thus lowering the pH in the rhizosphere and consequently
release the bound forms of phosphate like Ca3(PO4)2 in the calcareous soils.
Utilization of these microorganisms as environment-friendly biofertilizer helps to
reduce the use of expensive phosphatic fertilizers. Phosphorus biofertilizers could
help increase the availability of accumulated phosphate (by solubilization),
increase the efficiency of biological nitrogen fixation and render availability of Fe,
Zn, etc., through production of plant growth promoting substances.

 Phytohormone Production
The enhancement in various agronomic yields due to PGPR has been reported
because of the production of growth stimulating phytohormones such as indole-3-
acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA3), zeatin, ethylene and abscisic acid
(ABA).

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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
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Recent studies confirm that the treatment of seeds or cuttings with non-pathogenic
bacteria, such as Agrobacterium, Bacillus, Streptomyces, Pseudomonas,
Alcaligenes, etc. induce root formation in some plants because of natural plant
growth promoting substances produced by the bacteria. Although the mechanisms
are not completely understood, root induction by PGPR is the accepted result of
phytohormones such as auxins, growth inhibiting ethylene and mineralization.
Environment-friendly applications in agriculture have gained more importance, in
particular in horticulture and nursery production. The use of PGPR for nursery
material multiplication may be important for obtaining organic nursery material
because the use of all formulations of synthetic plant growth regulators, such as
indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), are prohibited in organic agriculture throughout the
world.
 Siderophore Production
PGPR are reported to secrete some extracellular metabolite called siderophores.
For the first time Kloepper et al. (1980) reported the significance of siderophores
produced by certain genera of PGPR in plant growth promotion. Siderophores are
commonly referred to as microbial Fe-chelating low molecular weight compounds.
The presence of siderophore-producing PGPR in rhizosphere increases the rate of
Fe3+ supply to plants and therefore enhance the plant growth and productivity of
crop. Further, this compound after chelating Fe3+ makes the soil Fe3+ deficient for
other soil microbes and consequently inhibits the activity of competitive microbes.

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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
bio-fertilizer

INDIRECT MECHANICS OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING

RHIZOBACTERIA:
 Cell wall degrading enzyme production by PGPR
Production of chitinase as well as glucanase has been long being seen as one
of the methods to control the pathogens that have the potential to infect plants. The
mechanism undertaken by theses PGPR is the degradation of cell wall affecting the
integrity of the structure and hence inflicting inhibiting growth on pathogens.
Some of the common enzymes that have been used to degrade cell wall or secreted
by PGPR strains to stop the growth of pathogens are cellulose, chitinase, proteases,
and β-1,3-glucanase. Streptomyces and Paenibacillus strains that produce β-1,3-
glucanase has shown to have the inhibitory effect on F. oxysporum, while the same
enzyme produced by Bacillus cepacia was reported to show inhibitory effect on the
number of soil-borne pathogens like R. solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, and P. ultimum.
While in case of chitinase it has been chitin that is β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosamine,
and the linear polymer which is being targeted, since it’s an important part of
fungal cell wall it helps to effectively control pathogens.
 Antibiotic production
It has been a while since we are using chemical pesticides in order to boost
the productivity of the crop. Despite chemical fertilizer being advantageous to our
crop, it has brought substantial distress in long run. Their ability to remain intact
for a longer period of time has added to water pollution and soil pollution. Along
with that, it has a broad spectrum of action that makes it disastrous even for
beneficial microbes. This entire dimension has led to the acceptance of

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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
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biopesticides that is safe, easy to degrade as well as selective in nature. After the
discovery of PGPR strains acting as an inhibitory factor for various pathogenic
microorganisms through the production of some metabolites which could lead to
suspension of pathogen growth at the minute, the level has open door to new
possibilities. Today, microbes antagonistic feature is being looked up as a
substitute for the chemical pesticides that have shown the disastrous effect over our
environment. This microorganism inhibits phytopathogens through numerous ways
like competing for the available nutrient and space, producing bacteriocins, lytic
enzymes, and antibiotics.

PGPR as Biofertilizers
Free-living PGPR have shown promise as biofertilizers. Many studies and
reviews have reported plant growth promotion, increased yield, solubilization of P
(phosphorus) or K (potassium), uptake of N (nitrogen) and some other elements
through inoculation with PGPR. In addition, studies have shown that inoculation
with PGPR enhances root growth, leading to
a root system with large surface area and increased number of root hairs. A huge
amount of artificial fertilizes are used to replenish soil and P, resulting in high costs
and increased environmental pollution. Most of P in insoluble compounds is
unavailable to plants. N2-fixing and P-solubilizing bacteria may be important for
plant nutrition by increasing N and P uptake by the crop plants, and playing a
crucial role in biofertilization. N2-fixation and P-solubilization, production of
antibiotics, and other plant growth promoting substances are the principal
contribution of the PGPR in the agro-ecosystems. More recent research findings

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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
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indicate that the treatment of agricultural soils with PGPR inoculation significantly
increases agronomic yields as compared to uninoculated soils.
PGPR as Biocontrol Agents
PGPR produce substances that also protect them against various diseases.
PGPR may protect plants against pathogens by direct antagonistic interactions
between the biocontrol agent and the pathogen, as well as by induction of host
resistance. In recent years, the role of siderophore-producing PGPR in biocontrol
of soil-borne plant pathogens has created great interest. Microbiologists have
developed techniques for introduction of siderophore- producing PGPR in soil
system through seed, soil or root system. PGPR that indirectly enhance plant
growth via suppression of phytopathogens do so by a variety of mechanisms.

These include:
• The ability to produce siderophores (as discussed above) that chelate iron,
making it unavailable to pathogens.
• The capacity to synthesize anti-fungal metabolites such as antibiotics, fungal cell
wall-lysing enzymes, or hydrogen cyanide, which suppress the growth of fungal
pathogens.
• The ability to successfully compete with pathogens for nutrients or specific
niches on the root; and the ability to induce systemic resistance.

PGPR as Biological Fungicides

PGPR and bacterial endophytes play a vital role in the management of various
fungal diseases. But one of the major hurdles experienced with biocontrol agents is
lack of appropriate delivery system.

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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
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CONCLUSION:
Worldwide, considerable progress has been achieved in the area of PGPR
biofertilizer technology. It has been also demonstrated and proved that PGPR can
be very effective and are potential microbes for enriching the soil fertility and
enhancing the agriculture yield. PGPR are excellent model systems which can
provide the biotechnologist with novel genetic constituents and bioactive
chemicals having diverse uses in agriculture and environmental sustainability.
Current and future progress in our understanding of PGPR diversity, colonization
ability, mechanisms of action, formulation, and application could facilitate their
development as reliable components in the management of sustainable agricultural
system.

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 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPR)Production and quality control of
bio-fertilizer

REFERENCE:
1. Indrani Singh. PGPR and their various mechanism for plant growth
enhancement in stressful condition. Amity university, Madhya pradesh. PN.
4- 12.
2. Jay Shankar Singh. Article on Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria. Mar
2013. PN. 1-7.

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