Case study of a biological control: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geobacillus caldoxylosilyticus</Emphasis> (IRD) contributes to alleviate salt stress in maize (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Zea mays</Emphasis> L.) plants

The inevitable exposure of crop plants to salt stress is a major environmental problem emerged from the presence of excess NaCl radicals in the soil. Handling the problem in maize plants using a biological agent was the main interest of the present study. The non-pathogenic, halophytic, facultative aerobic bacterium Geobacillus caldoxylosilyticus IRD that was isolated from Marakopara pond in the Atoll Tikehau (French Polynesian, 2005) and found tolerant to salt stress until 3.5% NaCl (w/v). An artificial symbiosis was achieved by inoculating Geobacillus sp. into 5-day-old maize cultivars of triple hybrids (321 and 310) and singlet hybrids (10 and 162). Thereafter, maize seedlings were exposed to 350 mmol NaCl for 10 days. The data revealed that Geobacillus sp. had interacted with salinized maize and improved maize overall growth, dry weight and relative water content. Na⁺ accumulation was six times less and Cl⁻ accumulation was 13 times less in the tips of salinized maize seedlings upon Geobacillus sp. inoculation. Salinized maize without Geobacillus viewed decayed cortical cells of seedlings. In addition, proline content was two times higher in salinized seedlings lacking Geobacillus. Photosynthetic pigments and antioxidant enzymes were significantly regulated upon inoculation. Beyond this study, we presented a novel insight into a possible role of Geobacillus caldoxylosilyticus bacteria in controlling/protecting maize plants against high salt stress.