Abstract:
Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) represent a very small portion of plant rhizobacteria that have the
ability to promote plants growth. In this work we evaluated the potential of free-living diazotrophic bacteria
isolated from saline soil in west Algeria for the presence of PGP traits. Selective media were used for the
isolation and selection of these plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. A total of 296 strains were isolated from
rhizospheres of wheat in eleven different saline soil areas of the perimeter of Mina (Relizane province – west
Algeria). All the strains were evaluated for Indole acetic acid (IAA) production, phosphate solubilization,
siderophores production, Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) production and ammonia production. Amongst these 296
strains 35 with multiple PGPR traits were in addition tested for their ability to use ACC as a sole nitrogen source
and for nitrogenase activity using the Acethylene Reduction Activity test. These thirty five strains selected for
their high PGP traits performance were further characterized by 16S rRNA sequencing.
