Identification and biochemical characterization of novel bacteria associated with Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum

Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum (einkorn) is an ancestral wheat species originated from Karacadağ Mountain, Turkey about 10-12,000 years ago. Wheat is one of the major food sources for growing world population. Since the food requirements have been increasing, fertilization is a necessity to increase the product yield. Uncontrolled and excessive usage of chemical fertilizers have been threatening the environment and food safety. In recent years, the demand for developing sustainable approaches to increase the yield is escalated. Usage of plant growth promoting bacteria is a promising alternative by increasing crop yield and increasing the plant resistance against environmental stresses. The major challenge for using biofertilizers in agriculture rise from the growth-incompetency of isolated bacteria in various environments. In this study, we hypothesize that growth of einkorn wheat can be promoted by using the bacteria isolated from rhizosphere of local wheat species (Iza wheat). In this thesis study we aimed to isolate bacteria that can promote yield increase in wheat. We collected root samples of T. monococcum ssp. monococcum and isolated ten different bacteria. According to interpretation of identification three methods (MALDI-TOF, 16S rDNA, and 16S-23S rDNA intergenic region) the bacteria isolated in this study are Arthrobacter spp. ESU164, Arthrobacter spp. ESU193, Pseudomonas spp. ESU131, Pseudomonas spp. ESU141, Pseudomonas poae strain ESU182, Pseudomonas thivervalensis strain ESU192, Pseudomonas spp. ESU1531, Bacillus subtilis strain ESU181, Microbacterium foliorum strain ESU172, Microbacterium spp. ESU121. For each isolate we investigated its biochemical properties along with their impact on T. monococcum ssp. monococcum development. The results show that all isolates have the ability of fixing nitrogen. The highest phosphate solubilization capacity has been reported as 2.805±0.439 for Pseudomonas spp. ESU131 while all the species show phosphate solubilization capacities except Microbacterium foliorum strain ESU172. All isolated species are IAA productors. In addition to these results, nine different bacteria positively affected the plant growth parameters. These species have important properties that can be used as biofertilizers in agricultural applications.