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Assessing the Plant Growth Promoting and Arsenic Tolerance Potential of Bradyrhizobium japonicum CB1809

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Abstract

Accumulation of heavy metals in soil is of concern to the agricultural production sector, because of the potential threat to food quality and quantity. Inoculation with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) has previously been shown to alleviate heavy metal stress but the mechanisms are unclear. Potential mechanisms by which inoculation with Bradyrhizobium japonicum CB1809 affected the legume soybean (Glycine max cv. Zeus) and the non-legume sunflower (Helianthus annus cv. Hyoleic 41) were investigated in solution culture under 5 μM As stress. Adding As resulted in As tissue concentrations of up to 5 mg kg−1 (shoots) and 250 mg kg−1 (roots) in both species but did not reduce shoot or root biomass. Inoculation increased root biomass but only in the legume (soybean) and only with As. Inoculation resulted in large (up to 100%) increases in siderophore concentration but relatively small changes (±10–15%) in auxin concentration in the rhizosphere. However, the increase in siderophore concentration in the rhizosphere did not result in the expected increases in tissue N or Fe, especially in soybean, suggesting that their function was different. In conclusion, siderophores and auxins may be some of the mechanisms by which both soybean and sunflower maintained plant growth in As-contaminated media.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mr Cameron Crombie for his technical assistance with instruments and chemicals. Thanks also to laboratory staff: Dr Sandro Longano, Dr Muthu Pannirselvam and Mrs Peggy Chang for technical support. Thanks to Paul Morrison for assisting with the ICP-MS analysis. Thanks also for donations of soybean seeds and sunflower seeds by Luke Gaynor and Loretta Serafin respectively, Department of Primary Industries, New South Wales, Australia, and of bradyrhizobial inoculum by Joe Millar from New-Edge Microbials, Australia.

Funding

The authors received an internal seed grant from the then School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, to undertake this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Md Ferdous Seraj & Suzie M. Reichman

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Management, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Md Ferdous Seraj

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Tania Rahman

  4. School of Science, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

    Ann C. Lawrie

  5. Centre for Anthropogenic Pollution Impact and Management, School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Suzie M. Reichman

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  1. Md Ferdous Seraj
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Correspondence to Suzie M. Reichman.

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Seraj, M.F., Rahman, T., Lawrie, A.C. et al. Assessing the Plant Growth Promoting and Arsenic Tolerance Potential of Bradyrhizobium japonicum CB1809. Environmental Management 66, 930–939 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01351-z

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