Inoculation of Brevibacterium linens RS16 in Oryza sativa genotypes enhanced salinity resistance: Impacts on photosynthetic traits and foliar volatile emissions

Abstract The emission of volatiles in response to salt stress in rice cultivars has not been studied much to date. Studies addressing the regulation of stress induced volatile emission by halotolerant plant growth promoting bacteria containing ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate) deaminase are also limited. The objective of the present study was to investigate the salt alleviation potential of bacteria by regulating photosynthetic characteristics and volatile emissions in rice cultivars, and to compare the effects of the bacteria inoculation and salt responses between two rice genotypes. The interactive effects of soil salinity (0, 50, and 100 mM NaCl) and inoculation with Brevibacterium linens RS16 on ACC accumulation, ACC oxidase activity, carbon assimilation and stress volatile emissions after stress application were studied in the moderately salt resistant (FL478) and the salt-sensitive (IR29) rice ( Oryza sativa L.) cultivars. It was observed that salt stress reduced foliage photosynthetic rate, but induced foliage ACC accumulation, foliage ACC oxidase activity, and the emissions of all the major classes of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including the lipoxygenase pathway volatiles, light-weight oxygenated volatiles, long-chained saturated aldehydes, benzenoids, geranylgeranyl diphosphate pathway products, and mono- and sesquiterpenes. All these characteristics scaled up quantitatively with increasing salt stress. The effects of salt stress were more pronounced in the salt-sensitive genotype IR29 compared to the moderately salt resistant FL478 genotype. However, the bacterial inoculation significantly enhanced photosynthesis, and decreased ACC accumulation and the ACC oxidase activity, and VOC emissions both in control and salt-treated plants. Taken together, these results suggested that the ACC deaminase-containing Brevibacterium linens RS16 reduces the temporal regulation of VOC emissions and increases the plant physiological activity by reducing the availability of ethylene precursor ACC and the ACC oxidase activity under salt stress.