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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Beneficial soil microbe promotes seed germination, plant growth and photosynthesis in herbal crop Codonopsis pilosula

Yong-Na Wu A , Yu-Lan Feng A , Paul W. Paré B , Ying-Long Chen C , Rui Xu D , Shan Wu E , Suo-Min Wang A , Qi Zhao A , Hui-Ru Li A , Yin-Quan Wang D and Jin-Lin Zhang A F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, P. R. China.

B Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1061, USA.

C Institute of Agriculture, School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

D Departments of Nurse and Chinese Medicine, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, P. R. China.

E Department of Biology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China.

F Corresponding author. Email: jlzhang@lzu.edu.cn

Crop and Pasture Science 67(1) 91-98 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP15110
Submitted: 1 April 2015  Accepted: 17 August 2015   Published: 14 January 2016

Abstract

Bacillus subtilis strain GB03 enhances growth and photosynthesis in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and several crop plants. In the present study, the effects of seed soaking with GB03 suspension culture and its volatile organic compounds on seed germination of Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf. were investigated, and soil-grown C. pilosula seedlings were assayed to measure growth and photosynthetic capacity after soil inoculation with GB03. Both seed soaking with GB03 suspension culture and the presence of volatile organic compounds enhanced seed germination, especially seed germination vigour. GB03 significantly improved shoot and root length, branching, plant biomass (whole plant fresh and dry weight), leaf area and chlorophyll content in C. pilosula seedlings after 20, 40 and 60 days of soil inoculation. GB03 significantly enhanced transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and net photosynthetic rate, but decreased intercellular CO2 concentration. This study provides insight for the application of selected bacteria to improve biomass in Chinese herbal crops.

Additional keywords: Bacillus subtilis, Codonopsis pilosula, growth promotion, photosynthesis, seed germination.


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