Synergistic effects of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria in bioremediation of iron contaminated soils

ABSTRACT

Three Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) from Glomus, Acaulospora and Scutellospora, and four plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) isolates related to genera Streptomyces, Azotobacter, Pseudomonas and Paenibacillus were found to be effective in phytoremediation of Fe³⁺ contaminated soil where Pennisetum glaucum and Sorghum bicolor were growing as host plants. Co-inoculation of AMF and PGPR showed better results in comparison to either, AMF and PGPR under pot conditions. Both AMF and PGPR were able to produce siderophores. AMF and PGPR associated to P. glaucum and S. bicolor plants increased the extent of iron absorption. AMF and PGPR combination exhibited superior (p < 0.01) phytoremediation efficiency with P. glaucum compared to S. bicolor. These findings warrant further investigations of these synergistic interactions and large-scale in situ studies for bioremediation of iron-contaminated soils.

Keywords:

• phytoremediation
• rhizobacteria
• arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
• 16S rDNA
• Glomus
• iron contamination

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to The Chancellor, Lovely Professional University, Punjab for providing laboratory facilities during this study. Authors are also indebted to Department of Soil and Agriculture, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana for assistance in sample processing and testing.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.