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Combined effects of Piriformospora indica and Azotobacter chroococcum enhance plant growth, antioxidant potential and steviol glycoside content in Stevia rebaudiana

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Abstract

The herb Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is an important sugar substitute due to the presence of steviol glycosides-mainly stevioside and rebaudioside-A. These compounds possess antioxidant activity with industrial importance. The fungus Piriformospora indica has been used to improve medicinally important biomolecules, growth and secondary metabolite content in plants. The soil bacterium Azotobacter chroococcum has also been reported to possess plant growth promoting ability. The present study was undertaken to test the ability of P. indica (Pi) and A. chroococcum (Az), alone and in combination to improve the growth, antioxidant activity and steviol glycoside (SG) content of in vitro S. rebaudiana plantlets. Inoculation with Pi or Az alone showed enhancement in all these characters compared with non-inoculated plantlets. Combined inoculation with Pi and Az further enhanced these traits.

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Abbreviations

WHO:

World Health Organization

PGPR:

plant growth promoting rhizobacteria

AMF:

arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

MS medium:

Murashige and Skoog medium

BAP:

6-benzyl aminopurine

Kn:

kinetin

IAA:

indole-3-acetic acid

DPPH:

1,1- diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl

PiPT:

P. indica-phosphate transporter

SGs:

steviol glycosides

ABA:

abscisic acid

GA:

gibberellic acid

ROS:

reactive oxygen species

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Director, CIMAP, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, for providing stem cuttings of S. rebaudiana and to the Division of Microbiology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India for providing the A. chroococcum (W5) strain. We also thank ICAR for financial assistance to the first author. The help extended by Dr. Ginette Seguin Swartz, former scientist, Agriculture and Agri- Food Canada Research Station, Saskatoon, Canada and Dr. DK Choudhary, AIMT, Amity University for manuscript correction and constructive suggestions to finalize the manuscript is greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, E-3 Block, Fourth Floor, Sector 125, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201303, India

    Divya Kilam, Abha Agnihotri & Ajit Varma

  2. Centre for Transgenic Plant Development, Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi, 110062, India

    Monica Saifi & M. Z. Abdin

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  1. Divya Kilam
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  2. Monica Saifi
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  3. M. Z. Abdin
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  4. Abha Agnihotri
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  5. Ajit Varma
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Correspondence to Abha Agnihotri.

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Kilam, D., Saifi, M., Abdin, M.Z. et al. Combined effects of Piriformospora indica and Azotobacter chroococcum enhance plant growth, antioxidant potential and steviol glycoside content in Stevia rebaudiana . Symbiosis 66, 149–156 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-015-0347-x

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