Cellulosimicrobium funkei-like enhances the growth of Phaseolus vulgaris by modulating oxidative damage under Chromium(VI) toxicity

Contamination of agriculture land by heavy metals is a worldwide risk that has sped up noticeably since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Hence, there arise the demands of heavy metal tolerant plant growth promoting bacterial strains for specific metal contaminated agricultural sites restoration. In this study, 36 bacterial isolates were screened out from the rhizospheric soil of Phaseolus vulgaris. Among these, two bacterial strains AR6 and AR8 were selected based on their higher Cr(VI) tolerance (1200 and 1100 lg/mL, respectively) and the maximum production of plant growth promoting substances. In the molecular characterization study, both the bacterial strains showed 99% homology with Cellulosimicrobium funkei KM032184. In greenhouse experiments, the exposure of Cr(VI) to P.vulgaris inhibited the growth and photosynthetic pigments and increased the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant expressions.