Abstract
Endophytes are beneficial microbes that reside intercellularly inside the plants. Interaction of endophytes with the host plants and their function within their host are important to address ecological relevance of endophyte. Four endophytic bacteria OS-9, OS-10, OS-11, and OS-12 were isolated from healthy leaves of Ocimum sanctum. These isolated microbes were screened in dual culture against various phytopathogenic fungi viz. Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium solani, Alternaria solani, and Colletotrichum lindemuthianum. Of these, strain OS-9 was found to be antagonistic to R. solani, A. solani, F. solani, and C. lindemuthianum while OS-11 was found antagonistic against A. solani only. The growth-promoting benefits of the endophytes were initially evaluated in the glasshouse by inoculated seeds of O. sanctum. Treatment with endophytes OS-10 and OS-11 resulted in significant enhancement of growth as revealed by increase in fresh as well as dry weight. Further, field trials involving two genotypes OS Purple and CIM-Angana were conducted with strains OS-10 and OS-11. The growth-promoting effect was visible on both the genotypes tested as the endophytes significantly enhanced fresh herbage yield (t/ha). Interestingly, these endophytes increased the content of essential oil particularly in cultivar OS Purple and thereby increasing the total oil yields. Molecular characterization of strain OS-11 indicated the strain to be highly related to the type strain of Bacillus subtilis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Azevedo JL, Walter MJ, Pereira JD, de Araujo WL (2000) Endophytic micro organism: a review on insect control and recent advances on tropical plants. Electron J Biotechnol 3:40–65
Balyan SS, Pushpangadan P (1988) A study on the taxonomical status and geographic distribution of genus Ocimum. Pafai J 10:13–19
Berg G, Hallmann J (2006) Control of plant pathogenic fungi with bacterial endophyte. Springer, Berlin, pp 53–69
Carroll GC (1988) Fungal endophyte in stems and leaves: from latent pathogen to mutualistic symbiont. Ecology 69:2–9
Chanway CP (1996) Endophytes: they are not just fungi. Can J Bot 74:321–322
Chanway CP (1998) Bacterial endophytes: ecological and practical implications. Sydowia 50:149–170
Chen C (1995) Biological control of Fusarium wilt on cotton by use of endophytic bacteria. Biol control 5:83–91
Compant S, Duffy B, Nowak J, Barka EA (2005) Use of plant growth promoting bacteria for biocontrol of plant diseases: principles, mechanisms of action and future prospects. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:4951–4959
Costa JM, Loper JE (1994) Characterization of siderophore production by the biological control agent Enterobacter cloacae. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 7:440–448
Elvira-Recuenco M, Vuurde JWL (2000) Natural incidence of endophytic bacteria in pea cultivars under field conditions. Can J Microbiol 46:1036–1041
Hallmann J, Quadt-Hallmann A, Mahaffee WF, Kloepper JW (1997) Bacterial endophytes in agricultural crops. Can J Microbiol 43(10):895–914
Izumi H, Anderson IC, Killham K, Moore ERB (2008) Diversity of predominant endophytic bacteria in European deciduous and coniferous trees. Can J Microbiol 54(3):173–179
Kuc J (2001) Concept and direction of induced systemic resistance in plants and its application. Eur J Plant Pathol 107:7–12
Lee S, Flores-Encarnacion M, Contreras-Zentella M, Garcia Flores L, Escamilla JE, Kennedy C (2004) Indole-3-acetic acid biosynthesis is deficient in Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus strains with mutation in cytochrome C biogenesis genes. J Bacteriol 186:5384–5391
Manjula K, Singh SD, Kishore KG (2002) Role of endophytic bacteria in biological control of plant diseases. Ann Rev Plant Pathol 1:231–252
Martinez L, Caballero-Mellado J, Orozco J, Martinez-Romero E (2003) Diazotrophic bacteria associated with banana (Musa spp.). Plant Soil 257:35–47
Nejed P, Johnson PA (2000) Endophytic bacteria induced growth promotion and wilt disease suppression in oil seed rape and tomato. Biol Control 18:208–215
Pillay VK, Nowak J (1997) Inoculum density, temperature and genotype effects on in vitro growth promotion and epiphytic and endophytic colonization of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) seedlings inoculated with a pseudomonad bacterium. Can. J. Microbiol 43:354–361
Pleben S, Ingel F, Chet I (1995) Control of Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotium rolfsii in the green house using endophytic bacteria. Euro J Plant Pathol 101:665–672
Pushpangadan P, Bradu BL (1995) Basil. In: Chadha KL, Gupta R (eds) Advances in horticulture—medicinal and aromatic plants, vol 11. Malhotra Publishing House, New Delhi, pp 627–657
Rangeshwaran R, Wasnikar AR, Prasad RD, Anjula N, Sunanda CR (2002) Isolation of endophytic bacteria for biological control of wilt pathogens. J Biol Control 16:125–134
Rosenblueth M, Martinez-Romero E (2004) Rhizobium etli maize populations and their competitiveness for root colonization. Arch Microbiol 181:337–344
Saitou N, Nei M (1987) The neighbour joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol 4:406–425
Sturtz AV, Christie BR, Nowak J (2000) Bacterial endophytes: potential endophytes: potential role in developing sustainable systems of crop production. Crit Rev Plant Sci 19:1–30
Upadhyay DN, Bordoloi DN, Bhagat SD, Ganguly D (1976) Studies on blight disease of Ocimum basilicum L. caused by Cercospora ocimicola Petrak et Ciferri. Herba Hungarica 15:81–86
Verma SC, Singh A, Chowdhury SP, Tripathi AK (2004) Endophytic colonization ability of two deep water rice endophytes. Pantoea sp. and Ochrobacterium sp. using green fluorescent protein reporter. Biotechnol Lett 26:425–429
Wakelin S, Warren R, Harvey P, Ryder M (2004) Phosphate solubilization by Penicillium spp. closely associated with wheat roots. Biol Fertil Soils 40:36–43
Wilhelm E, Arthofer W, Schafleitner R, Krebs B (1998) Bacillus subtilis an endophyte of chestnut (Castanea sativa) as antagonist against chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). Plant Cell, Tissue Organ Cult 52:105–108
Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful to Director CIMAP (CSIR), Lucknow, India for providing necessary facilities and MTCC, Chandigarh, India for identification of cultures.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tiwari, R., Kalra, A., Darokar, M.P. et al. Endophytic Bacteria from Ocimum sanctum and Their Yield Enhancing Capabilities. Curr Microbiol 60, 167–171 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-009-9520-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-009-9520-x