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Corn sap bacterial endophytes and their potential in plant growth-promotion

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Abstract

Plants interact with many different bacteria at various stages of their life. A mutualistic relationship between a plant and an endophytic bacterium occurs when a plant provides a safe habitat and a secure food supply to the microbe and it, in return, benefits the plants’ capacity to function in its environment. In this study, corn sap was screened for the diversity and functionality of culturable bacterial endophytes, and a total of 437 bacterial endophytes were isolated, identified, and characterized for their possible role as biofertilizers and biocontrol agents. The growth promoting traits that were characterized included siderophore production, phosphate and zinc solubilization, nitrogen fixation, indole acetic acid production, and antifungal activity against several plant pathogens. Most isolates (71.8%) were found to fix nitrogen and solubilize phosphate (66.8%), close to half (42.5%) could solubilize zinc, and 28.3% of the corn bacterial endophytes could sequester iron. Most isolates (77.3%) displayed antifungal activity, and 186 of the 437 isolates tested were found to promote plant growth in a gnotobiotic assay. These results suggest that growth promotion from these bacterial endophytes is the outcome of multiple biochemical and microbiological mechanisms.

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Acknowledgements

We highly appreciate the assistance of all the participating farmers for allowing us to sample their farms. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to Kristen Delaney and Jae Min Park for sampling corn farms. We appreciate the help of the A & L Biologicals staff and coop students, especially, Perry Ryersee, Christopher Chiasson, Gabriëlle Zieleman, Stephanie Kerkvliet, Nickolas Werry, and Danika Brook on this project. Finally, the financial assistance provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council through an Industrial fellowship is highly appreciated. Funding provided by AAFC-Growing Forward was crucial to the successful completion of this project and is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. A&L Biologicals, Agroecological Research Services Centre, London, ON, Canada

    Shimaila Ali, Joshua Isaacson, Yulia Kroner, Soledad Saldias, Saveetha Kandasamy & George Lazarovits

  2. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Joshua Isaacson & George Lazarovits

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  1. Shimaila Ali
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  2. Joshua Isaacson
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  3. Yulia Kroner
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  4. Soledad Saldias
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Correspondence to Shimaila Ali.

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Ali, S., Isaacson, J., Kroner, Y. et al. Corn sap bacterial endophytes and their potential in plant growth-promotion. Environmental Sustainability 1, 341–355 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-018-00030-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-018-00030-4

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