Effect of inoculating salt tolerant bacteria on mungbean under salt stress

A total of 450 salt tolerant bacterial isolates were isolated from saline rhizospheric soils of Tungabhadra command area on nutrient agar medium supplemented with 12 per cent salt concentration. Of which, 20 isolates were selected and subjected for in vitro morphological, biochemical and PGPR activity tests, which revealed GP-21 as an efficient P-solubilizer, GS-36 as nitrogen fixer and MP-63 as 1M producer. Further, in vivo seed inoculation effect of salt tolerant bacterium on fresh and dry weight of mungbean was evaluated. Combined inoculation (GP-21 + GS-36+ MP-63) significantly enhanced shoot fresh weight (5.45 and 7.06 g plant⁻¹) and dry weight (1.79 and 1.83 g plant⁻¹) and root fresh weight (0.22 and 0.28 g plant⁻¹) and dry weight (0.17 and 0.28 g plant⁻¹) at 30 and 60 DAS, respectively and ultimately resulted in higher seed yield (1.58 g plant⁻¹) of mungbean under elevated salt stress (200 mM NaCI), compared to individual inoculations and un-inoculated control (0.33 g plant⁻¹).