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The effect of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria ( Bacillus sp.) and silver nanoparticles on Zea mays was evaluated. The silver nanoparticles were synthesized from Tagetes erecta (Marigold) leaf and flower extracts, whereas PGPR isolated from spinach rhizosphere. The silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were purified using ultra centrifugation and were characterized using UV–Vis spectroscopy at gradient wavelength and also by High Resolution Transmission Electron microscopy (HRTEM). The average particles size of AgNPs was recorded approximately 60 nm. Almost all potential isolates were able to produce Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), ammonia and Hydrogen cyanide (HCN), solubilized tricalcium phosphate and inhibited the growth of Macrophomina phaseolina in vitro but the isolate LPR2 was found the best among all. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence, the isolate LPR2 was characterized as Bacillus cereus LPR2. The maize seeds bacterized with LPR2 and AgNPs individually showed a significant increase in germination (87.5%) followed by LPR2 + AgNPs (75%). But the maximum growth of root and shoot of maize plant was observed in seeds coated with LPR2 followed by AgNPs and a combination of both. Bacillus cereus LPR2 and silver nanoparticles enhanced the plant growth and LPR2 strongly inhibited the growth of deleterious fungal pathogen. Therefore, LPR2 and AgNPs could be utilized as bioinoculant and growth stimulator, respectively for maize.

Aloe- emodin is an anthraquinone derivative mainly obtained from Aloe vera plant. It is reported to have several pharmacological activities including antiviral, antiproliferative, analgesic, antidiarrheal etc. Several formulations are available in market in combination with other phytoconstituents. Hence, there is a need for an analytical method for regular analysis of aloe-emodin in marketed formulations and bulk drugs. The goal of the current study was to use a UV 1800 Shimadzu double beam spectrophotometer to design and validate a straightforward, quick, accurate, and selective analytical method for estimating aloe-emodin in bulk and in marketed formulations. Using methanol as the solvent, the spectrophotometer-based detection process was carried out at λmax of 428.5 nm. The linearity, range, specificity, accuracy/recovery, precision, and robustness of the suggested approach were all confirmed. With a correlation coefficient of more than 0.999, the aloe-emodin detector response was found to be linear over the chosen concentration range (0.1-0.7μg/mL). The accuracy was between 98.78 to 100.38%, variance of standard curve line was found to be 0.052. Among the five sample preparations, the precision (R.S.D.) ranged from 0.129 to 0.325%. The limits of quantification (LOQ) and detection (LOD) were reported to be 26.518μg/mL and 0.278μg/mL, respectively. The recovery of aloe-emodin was about 98.78 to 100.38%. The data collected showed that the commercial formulations' excipients did not interfere with the procedure. As a result, it is convenient to use these formulations for routine quality control analyses of aloe-emodin in bulk medication, marketed capsule, and other formulations.

There are many environmental problems around us that can harm our health. Among them, environmental pollution, food contamination and adulteration, and antinutrients of foods are listed at the top. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are one of them that focus the attention of every researcher, industrialist, and policymaker due to their ill effects on animal and human populations nowadays. Industrialization is the main causative agent that has even put them as part of our food web. The severity of their impact can rely on their transportation across international boundaries. To date, about 26 pesticides have been identified under the POP category. These are toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulated among living beings, whereas polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are as toxic as industrial effluents and also travel too long by way of air. Sometimes, they may be generated by unintentional means during various agricultural practices, too. Besides all these, food by way of processing, packaging, transportation, and storage could be aligned as potential sources for POP invasion in the food supply chain. There may be chances that POPs contaminate food through raw materials. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified some of them as a part of the \"dirty dozen\" due to their role in cancer development. The traditional methods to manage the POPs are neither efficient nor eco-friendly. The only sustainable way to break down POPs is the application of microorganisms. Keeping in mind the severity aspect, resistant to degradation and dangerous to living creatures of POPs. This review provides the insights and details of various extraction, detection and degradation techniques of POPs.

Probiotic attributes of lactic acid bacteria isolated from goat and sheep milk samples were analysed by culturing them on an MRS agar medium. The most potential isolates, GMB24 and SMB16, were identified by biochemical tests which had ability to tolerate different concentrations of acid and bile and phenol resistance. They were further identified as Enterococcus faecium GMB24 and Enterococcus hirae SMB16 by 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach. The probiotic potential of the isolates GMB24 and SMB16 were recorded including antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria viz., Escherichia coli (MTCC118), Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC7443), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC424), Listeria monocytogens (MTCC657) and Salmonella typhimurium (MTCC733), and antibiotic susceptibility test. The isolates SMB16 and GMB24 exhibited a higher zone of inhibition against P. aeruginosa (19.00 ± 0.57 mm) and S. aureus (25.66 ± 0.88 mm), respectively. The data from these experiments were used for the principal component analysis (PCA) to assess the survivability of the isolates under different factors. The heatmap generated in this study clustered the bacterial isolates based on their phenotype properties. Further, immunomodulating activities of these probiotic bacteria were tested on neutrophil adhesion test, haemagglutinating antibody titer and delayed-type hypersensitivity. Probiotic E. faecium GMB24 and E. hirae SMB16, at 109 cells/mL doses per day, increased the neutrophil adhesion, haemagglutinating antibody titer and DTH in comparison to the untreated control group. The isolates showed negative test for haemolytic and gelatinase activities and hence were considered safe. E. faecium GMB24 and E. hirae SMB16 were shown to have high probiotic potential and immune-stimulant action.

This study was aimed to synthesize silver nanoparticles using an endophytic bacterium Enterobacter roggenkampii BLS02, which was isolated from a medicinal plant Barleria lupulina. Synthesis of silver nanoparticles was confirmed visually by the silver-impregnated bacterial culture changing color from transparent white to dark brown. The morphology of the silver nanoparticles and the size of 20-80 nm were studied through UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and transmission electron microscope. The role of secondary metabolites in the reduction, stabilization, and capping of silver nanoparticles was studied using qualitative FTIR spectral peaks. The growth of two food-borne bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Listeria monocytogenes treated with biosynthesized silver nanoparticles at 30 μg/mL were strongly inhibited showing a strong antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles against food-borne bacteria. Thus, the silver nanoparticles proved to have the potential to protect food from food-borne bacteria.

This study was aimed to isolate bacterial endophytes from Barleria lupulina and to assess their plant growth-promoting activities. A total of fourteen endophytic bacterial isolates (BLS01–BLS14) were screened from the stem of B. lupulina and characterized based on morphology, biochemical reaction, and plant growth-promoting attributes, such as the production of IAA, siderophore, and phosphate solubilization activity. Among all the isolates, BLS02 exhibited higher PGP efficacy as maximum production of IAA, followed by BLS05, and minimum by the isolates BLS13. The highest phosphate solubilization was also carried out by BLS02, followed by BLS13. The greenhouse assay confirmed that BLS02 was the potential bacterial strain for enhancing vegetative growth parameters of B. lupulina such as root and shoot length and weight. Furthermore, isolate BLS02 was identified as Enterobacter roggenkampii following the 16S rRNA sequencing approach. The isolate BLS02 has the closest relationship with Enterobacter sp. and is being reported for the first time as a potential plant growth-promoting (PGP) bacterial endophyte from B. lupulina . The enhancement of plant growth by Enterobacter roggenkampii BLS02 would pave the way for further research in order to find out new endophytic bacteria which can promote plant growth and yield.

A study was conducted to determine the suitability of the endophytes as probable next-generation biofertilizers and novel biostimulants. Enterobacter turicensis RCT5 and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia RCT31 showed a zone of solubilization, of phosphate, potassium, silicate, and zinc, produced phytase. Among the three media used for phosphate solubilization, the rhizospheric medium turned out to be the best-producing results in less than 24 h, while others took a longer time to give the same results. The strains exhibited differential ability to produce organic acids in the plate assay and eight of these were profuse producers of exopolysaccharides. We were able to partially elucidate the mechanism of solubilization of insoluble salts that included organic acids and protein activity in the cell-free culture filtrates of endophytes. All the root nodule endophytes showed potential as novel biostimulants and next-generation biofertilizers as found in the germination assay of tomato, a non-host crop using different methodologies. It proved that the endophytes have different mechanism of expressions of their plant growth-promoting traits as well as can promote the growth of tomato plant irrespective of the method used.

Phosphorus (P), an essential macronutrient for various plant processes, is generally a limiting soil component for crop growth and yields. Organic and inorganic types of P are copious in soils, but their phyto-availability is limited as it is present largely in insoluble forms. Although phosphate fertilizers are applied in P-deficit soils, their undue use negatively impacts soil quality and the environment. Moreover, many P fertilizers are lost because of adsorption and fixation mechanisms, further reducing fertilizer efficiencies. The application of phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSMs) is an environmentally friendly, low-budget, and biologically efficient method for sustainable agriculture without causing environmental hazards. These beneficial microorganisms are widely distributed in the rhizosphere and can hydrolyze inorganic and organic insoluble P substances to soluble P forms which are directly assimilated by plants. The present review summarizes and discusses our existing understanding related to various forms and sources of P in soils, the importance and P utilization by plants and microbes,, the diversification of PSMs along with mixed consortia of diverse PSMs including endophytic PSMs, the mechanism of P solubilization, and lastly constraints being faced in terms of production and adoption of PSMs on large scale have also been discussed.

Plant beneficial rhizobacteria (PBR) is a group of naturally occurring rhizospheric microbes that enhance nutrient availability and induce biotic and abiotic stress tolerance through a wide array of mechanisms to enhance agricultural sustainability. Application of PBR has the potential to reduce worldwide requirement of agricultural chemicals and improve agro-ecological sustainability. The PBR exert their beneficial effects in three major ways; (1) fix atmospheric nitrogen and synthesize specific compounds to promote plant growth, (2) solubilize essential mineral nutrients in soils for plant uptake, and (3) produce antimicrobial substances and induce systemic resistance in host plants to protect them from biotic and abiotic stresses. Application of PBR as suitable inoculants appears to be a viable alternative technology to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Furthermore, PBR enhance nutrient and water use efficiency, influence dynamics of mineral recycling, and tolerance of plants to other environmental stresses by improving health of soils. This report provides comprehensive reviews and discusses beneficial effects of PBR on plant and soil health. Considering their multitude of functions to improve plant and soil health, we propose to call the plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) as PBR.

The compatibility between rhizobia and legumes for nitrogen-fixing nodules and the stages of root hair curling, formation of infection thread, and nodulation initiation have been vitally studied, but the factors for the sustainable root surface colonization and efficient symbiosis within chickpea and rhizobia have been poorly investigated. Hence, we aimed to analyze phenotypic properties and phylogenetic relationships of root-nodule bacteria associated with chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in the north-west Indo Gangetic Plains (NW-IGP) region of Uttar Pradesh, India. In this study, 54 isolates were recovered from five agricultural locations. Strains exhibited high exopolysaccharide production and were capable of survival at 15–42 °C. Assays for phosphate solubilization, catalase, oxidase, Indole acetic acid (IAA) production, and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase activity revealed that all the tested isolates possessed plant growth-promoting potential. Metabolic profiling using Biolog plates indicated that patterns of substrate utilization differed considerably among isolates. A biofilm formation assay showed that isolates displayed a nearly four-fold range in their capacity for biofilm development. Inoculation experiments indicated that all isolates formed nodules on chickpea, but they exhibited more than a two-fold range in symbiotic efficiency. No nodules were observed on four other legumes (Phaseolus vulgaris, Pisum sativum, Lens culinaris, and Vigna mungo). Concatenated sequences from six loci (gap, edD, glnD, gnD, rpoB, and nodC) supported the assignment of all isolates to the species Mesorhizobium ciceri, with strain M. ciceri Ca181 as their closest relative.