Ameliorating the Drought Stress for Wheat Growth through Application of ACC-Deaminase Containing Rhizobacteria along with Biogas Slurry

The temperature increase around the world is leading to generation of drought, which is a big threat to the productivity of crops. Abiotic stresses like drought increase the ethylene level in plants. In higher plants, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) is considered as the immediate precursor of ethylene biosynthesis. The application of ACC-deaminase (ACCD) possessing rhizobacteria could ameliorate the harmful results of drought stress by transforming ACC into non-harmful products. Biogas slurry (BGS) improves the water-holding capacity and structure of the soil. Thus, we speculated that the integrated application of ACCD possessing rhizobacteria and BGS might be an efficient approach to mitigate the drought stress for better wheat productivity. A field experiment was conducted under skipped irrigation situations. On the tillering stage (SIT) and flowering stage (SIF), the irrigations were skipped, whereas the recommended four irrigations were maintained in the control treatment. The results of this field experiment exposed that the ACCD possessing rhizobacterial inoculations with BGS considerably improved the stomatal and sub-stomatal conductance, transpiration and photosynthetic rates up to 98%, 46%, 38%, and 73%, respectively, compared to the respective uninoculated controls. The Pseudomonas moraviensis with BGS application improved the grain yield and plant height up to 30.3% and 24.3%, respectively, where irrigation was skipped at the tillering stage, as compared to the uninoculated controls. The data obtained revealed that the P. moraviensis inoculation + BGS treatment significantly increased the relative water content (RWC), catalase (CAT) activity, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity, as well as grain and shoot phosphorus contents, up to 37%, 40%, 75%, 19%, and 84%, respectively, at SIF situation. The results depicted that the P. moraviensis with BGS application under drought stress could be applied for enhancing the physiological, yield, and growth attributes of wheat.