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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Salinity stress poses a severe risk to food security and crop productivity. Stress reduction techniques are not necessarily sustainable or environmentally friendly. With the increasing adverse impact of salinity and area, it is necessary to restore and ameliorate salinity stress using environmentally friendly approaches. In this context, beneficial rhizospheric microbes may offer a sustainable approach to managing salinity stress. We used Bacillus subtilis strain Z-12 and B. aryabhattai strain Z-48 to improve the growth of turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) plants under salinity stress conditions and elucidated the beneficial impact of these bacterial strains on different physiological and biochemical aspects of plants. The application of both strains had a significant (p < 0.05) positive influence on analyzed parameters under salt stress. Here, B. aryabhattai strain Z-48 superiorly increased shoot length (33.2-, 25.8%), root length (38.6-, 31.5%), fresh biomass (23.9-, 17.8%), and dry biomass (38.60-, 48.6%) in normal and saline stress (200 mM NaCl) conditions, respectively. Physiological studies showed that antioxidant enzyme activities were significantly increased by B. subtilis Z-12 and B. aryabhattai Z-48 under salinity stress, with a few exceptions. Moreover, the inoculation of both strains effectively increased total chlorophyll, soluble sugar, phenolic, flavonoid, and glucosinolate contents under simulated salinity stress and normal conditions. Hence, these findings support the framework that inoculating turnip plants with these strains can enhance their tolerance against salinity stress.

Details

Title
Unlocking Salinity Stress Resilience in Turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) Plants Using Bacillus subtilis Z-12 and Bacillus aryabhattai Z-48
Author
Khan, Imran 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Rehman, Areeba 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Waheed Akram 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Anjum, Tehmina 3 ; Nasim Ahmad Yasin 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zill-e-Huma Aftab 3 ; Bareera Munir 5 ; Khan, Waheed Ullah 5 ; Li, Guihua 1 

 Guangdong Key Laboratory for New Technology Research of Vegetables/Vegetable Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; [email protected] (I.K.); [email protected] (A.R.) 
 Guangdong Key Laboratory for New Technology Research of Vegetables/Vegetable Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; [email protected] (I.K.); [email protected] (A.R.); College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan; [email protected] (B.M.); [email protected] (W.U.K.) 
 Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan; [email protected] (W.A.); [email protected] (Z.-e.-H.A.) 
 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan; [email protected] 
 College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan; [email protected] (B.M.); [email protected] (W.U.K.) 
First page
359
Publication year
2025
Publication date
2025
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20762607
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3171076320
Copyright
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.