RICE ENDOPHYTES: A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF PHYTOHORMONES AND ANTIMICROBIALS

Abstract

Endophytes are endosymbiotic species often a bacterium or a fungus that lives within a plant for at least a part of its life cycle without causing an apparent disease. Endophytes are known to enhance host growth, nutrient acquisition and increases plants’ resistance to pathogens. In the given study, we isolated endophytic bacteria from locally grown rice plant root, stem and leaves. 23 strains of bacteria were isolated. The bacterial population showed a high level of growth hormone production namely, Auxin and Gibberellin to the levels of 349 μg/mL and 240 μg/mL respectively. 19 strains could solubilize phosphate and 3 could fix atmospheric nitrogen. The bacterial population even showed antimicrobial activity against human pathogenic strains such as Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cepacia, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella sp. and Escherichia coli. From the isolated bacterial population, 5 showed antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 3 against Klebsiella sp. and Acenatobacter baumanii, 7 against Vibrio cholerae, 9 against Burkholdaria cepacia and 1 against E. coli. Thus, the study suggests that these microbes have huge potential to synthesize of numerous novel compounds that can be exploited in pharmaceutical, agricultural and other industries.