Plant Growth Promoting Potential of Rhizobial and Non-Rhizobial Endophytes and their Influence on Groundnut Germination in Drought Stress under in-vitro Conditions

Drought stress is the major limiting factor for crop production in most areas. To mitigate the adverse effects of drought in plants, we aimed to employ the Drought-tolerant endophytic bacteria in this present investigation. Thus, screening of drought tolerance and plant growth promoting traits of endophytic bacteria were carried out using polyethylene glycol (6000). All the 10 endophytic bacteria are capable of expressing plant growth promoting traits like IAA, EPS, siderophore, biofilm formation, ACC deaminase activity, mineral solubilization, and accumulation of osmolytes under normal conditions. During drought conditions, these endophytes have increased the production of EPS, biofilm formation, and osmolytes accumulation. This mechanism helps plants to hope up during drought stress. Co-inoculation of Rhizobium puesence S6R2 and Enterobacter cloacae S23 promoted groundnut germination under drought stress conditions.