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Mining of rice rhizobacteria to control false smut and improve plant growth in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

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Abstract

Oryza sativa (Rice) is one of the most cultivated staple food crops in India. The crop is affected by Rice False Smut (RFS) caused by Ustilaginoidea virens (UV), which leads to a substantial reduction in the crop yield, and the mycotoxins released pose a health risk. In the present study, bacterial strains were isolated from rhizosphere soil samples collected from the eastern regions of Uttar Pradesh, India. A total of 105 isolates were screened for their antagonistic activity against U. virens and the best four among them were selected and identified using 16S rRNA sequencing. Three isolates were identified as Bacillus subtilis, and one as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Additionally, plant growth promoting (PGP) traits such as siderophore production, IAA production, phosphate solubilization, HCN production etc. were assessed. To assess the biocontrol activity and PGP properties in rice a talc-based bioformulation was prepared using bacterial isolates. The control of UV infection was tested on rice variety HKR-126 involving 10 treatments with screened isolates. Enhanced germination was recorded in all bacterial treatments of UV infected seeds. Greenhouse experiments were also carried out to evaluate the biocontrol efficiency until the harvest stage, as well as plant growth in different stages. Collectively, the results suggested that biopriming with talc-based formulations consisting of B. subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens can serve as an alternative to fungicides to control the severity of UV disease in susceptible rice varieties, along with improving overall plant growth and fitness.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science (ICAR-IISS), Maunath Bhanjan, Uttar Pradesh, India for providing the lab facility at ICAR-IISS completion of this research work. The authors also acknowledge the support provided by Prof. Dr. Ajit Varma, Emiratus Scientist and Prof. Dr. B.C. Das, HOI, AIMT—Amity University for their constant guidance and providing the lab infrastructure for this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amity Institute of Microbial Technology (AIMT), Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, 201313, India

    Neha Pandey, Asha Singh Rajavat, Richa Vaishnav, Vaibhav Mishra & Neeraj Shrivastava

  2. ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science, Maunath Bhanjan, 275103, India

    Neha Pandey, Arvind Nath Singh & Sanjay Kumar

  3. ICAR- Indian Institute of Agriculture Biotechnology, Ranchi, 834010, India

    Madan Kumar

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  1. Neha Pandey
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  2. Asha Singh Rajavat
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  3. Richa Vaishnav
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  4. Arvind Nath Singh
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Contributions

Neha Pandey: Performed experiments, curated data, developed methodology, and carried out the investigation along with writing the original draft. Asha Singh Rajavat: Performed data analysis and designed methodology. Richa Vaishnav: Performed data analysis and helped in writing the original draft. Arvind Nath Singh and Sanjay Kumar: Gave valuable suggestions. Vaibhav Mishra: Antioxidant data analysis and reviewed original draft. Madan Kumar: Supervision, project administration and funding acquisition. Neeraj Shrivastava: Conceptualization, supervision, visualization and editing of the final draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Neeraj Shrivastava.

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Pandey, N., Rajavat, A.S., Vaishnav, R. et al. Mining of rice rhizobacteria to control false smut and improve plant growth in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Eur J Plant Pathol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-024-02829-w

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