Evaluation of salt tolerance in sugarcane mutant clone M4through the application of a rhizobacterial consortium

S. Hartatik¹, F. Wildana¹, A.A.H. Gusti², R.D. Aurela², Setiyono¹, S. Avivi¹, K.M. Kim³* and M. Ubaidillah¹²*

1University of Jember, Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate School of Agronomy,
Jl. Kalimantan 37, 68121, Indonesia
²University of Jember, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agrotechnology,
Jl. Kalimantan 37, 68121, Indonesia
³Kyungpook National University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, School of Applied BioSciences, Korea Science and Technology, Daegu, South Korea
*Correspondence: moh.ubaidillah.pasca@unej.ac.id; kkm@knu.ac.id

Abstract:

Sugarcane is one of the most important commodities in the world, with average global production reaching 1.9 billion tonnes in 2022. However, the availability of productive land does not meet the high production demand. This encourages farmers to utilize suboptimal land to meet global sugar cane needs. The aim of this study was to utilise a rhizobacterial consortium to identify the sugarcane mutant clone M4‘s salt tolerance, which was compared to the widely used Bululawang variety. The experiment was conducted using a hydroponic system with salt treatment (150 mM NaCl) and varying concentrations of the rhizobacterial consortium (2, 4, and 6 mL). Morphological and physiological parameters were measured to assess the response to salt stress. The findings showed that the M4 clone significantly improved plant height, root length, and total chlorophyll content compared to Bululawang. The application of the rhizobacterial consortium significantly enhanced salt tolerance in both genotypes, with the M4 clone showing a stronger response. Overall, the M4 clone displayed greater potential for cultivation in high-salinity soils, particularly when supported by the application of a rhizobacterial consortium. These findings provide valuable insights for the development of sugarcane varieties with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress, potentially improving agricultural productivity in suboptimal lands.

Key words:

Germination and growth of primary roots of inoculated bean (Vicia faba) seeds under different temperatures

A. Senberga*, L. Dubova and I. Alsina

Latvia University of Agriculture, Institute of Soil and Plant Sciences, Liela street 1, LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
*Correspondence: alise.senberga@llu.lv

Abstract:

Temperature stress strongly affects legumes, rhizobia, and the efficiency of legume-rhizobia interaction. An experiment in 2016 was developed to test the seed germination in Petri dishes using different microorganism inoculation under several temperature treatments (4, 8, 12 and 20 °C). The goal of this study was to test the effect of rhizobium inoculation under low root zone temperature, and to examine whether the addition of mycorrhiza fungi could enhance rhizobia resistance to abiotic stress and improve faba bean (Vicia faba) germination. Four faba bean cultivars were selected for the experiment (‘Lielplatone’, ‘Fuego’, ‘Bartek’ and ‘Karmazyn’). Four different seed inoculation variants were included in this experiment – 1) with rhizobium inoculation; 2) with a commercial preparation containing mycorrhiza fungi; 3) inoculation with both rhizobium and the mycorrhiza fungi preparation; 4) control variant. The number of germinated seeds, the length of the primary root and the primary root weight ratio were determined. The effect of inoculation was found out to be dependent not only on the temperature treatment, but it also significantly varied between the bean cultivars. Variants where seeds were inoculated with both mycorrhiza and rhizobia resulted in the highest results (length and weight ratio of primary roots), comparing with other inoculation variants, regardless of temperature. Variants where seeds were treated only with rhizobia mostly showed the lowest results – both length and weight ratio of primary roots, especially under treatment of 4 °C. Faba bean inoculation with only rhizobia might not be efficient, when sowing seeds under a low temperature stress. Inoculation with both rhizobia and mycorrhiza fungi could be a potential solution, when the root zone temperature is still below the optimal temperature.

Key words:

abiotic stress, legumes, low root zone temperature, mycorrhiza, rhizobia, Vicia faba