“Isolation and testing of bacterial endophytes for seed quality parameters under induced moisture stress in rabi sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.)”.

Rabi sorghum is the most important post rainy season cereal crop in peninsular India, grown predominantly under rainfed conditions. There is decline in the productivity of rabi sorghum under rainfed areas. Many endophytic bacteria live in association with their host and play crucial role in health and development of plant. The aims of this work were to isolate and testing of the bacterial endophytes for seed quality parameters of rabi sorghum under induced moisture stress (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% PEG 8000). The isolation was done from root, stem and seeds of sorghum plant. Among the five isolates tested for plant growth promoting traits AUST 3 recorded higher amount of IAA (15.25 μg/ml broth) and inorganic phosphate solubilization (14.73 ppm) and all the five isolates along with reference isolate were positive for ACC deaminase activity. Data indicated that increase in osmotic stress caused a significant decrease in seed quality parameters in all treatments under study. The isolate AUST 3 recorded higher seed germination (46.67%), root length (7.77 cm), shoot length (6.63 cm) and seedling vigour index (673) at highest PEG concentration (25% PEG 8000). From the overall results it was concluded that the promising isolate AUST showed comparatively better performance than other endophytes under higher concentration of PEG induced water stress.