Effect of insecticide-tolerant and plant growth-promoting Mesorhizobium on the performance of chickpea grown in insecticide stressed alluvial soils

An experiment was carried out to determine the plant growth-promoting activities of fipronil- and pyriproxyfen-tolerant Mesorhizobium isolates in the presence and absence of insecticides. The bioremediation and plant growth-promoting potentials of Mesorhizobium isolate (MRC4) was assessed using chickpea as a test crop grown under fipronil- and pyriproxyfen-stressed soils. In this study, the most promising mesorhizobial isolate (MRC4) tolerated fipronil and pyriproxyfen up to a concentration of 1600 μg ml^?1 and 1400 μg ml^?1, respectively. Isolate MRC4 produced a substantial amount of indole acetic acid (44.3 μg ml^?1), salicylic acid (35 μg ml^?1), 2,3 di-hydroxybenzoic acid (19 μg ml^?1), and exo-polysaccharides (21 μg ml^?1) in the absence of insecticides. The plant growth-promoting substances displayed by the isolate MRC4 declined progressively with increasing concentrations of each insecticide. The insecticide tolerant isolate MRC4 was further tested for its effect on chickpea plants grown in fipronil- and pyriproxyfen-treated soils. The insecticide-tolerant isolate MRC4 increased the dry matter accumulation progressively. A maximum increase of 80 (at 600 μg kg^?1 soil of fipronil) and 118% (at 3900 μg kg^?1 soil of pyriproxyfen) was recorded 135 days after sowing when compared to noninoculated plants treated with the same rates of each insecticide. Moreover, Mesorhizobium isolate MRC4 when used in fipronil- and pyriproxyfen-treated soil also increased symbiotic properties (nodulation and leghaemoglobin content), root N, shoot N, root P, shoot P, seed yield, and seed protein compared to the un-inoculated but treated solely with insecticide. The present finding suggests that the mesorhizobial isolate endowed with multiple properties could be used to facilitate the productivity of chickpea under insecticidestressed soils.