Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria are increasingly considered as a complement of conventional inputs in agricultural systems. Their effects on their host plants are diverse and include volatile-mediated growth enhancement. The present study aims at assessing the effects of bacterial volatile production on the biomass production and the root system architecture of Brachypodium distachyon (L.) Beauv. (line Bd-21). An in vitro experimental set-up allowing plant-bacteria interaction through the gaseous phase without any physical contact was used to screen 19 bacterial strains for their growth promotion ability over a 10-day cocultivation period.
Using principal component analysis followed by hierarchical clustering and two-way analysis of variance, five groups of bacteria were defined and characterized based on their combined influence on biomass production and root system architecture. The observed effects range from unchanged to highly increased biomass production coupled with increased root length and branching. Primary root length was only increased by the volatile compounds emitted by Enterobacter cloacae JM22 and Bacillus pumilus T4. Overall, the most significant results were obtained with Bacillus subtilis GB03 which induced a 81% increase in total biomass and enhanced total root length, total secondary root length and total adventitious root length by 88, 196 and 473% respectively.
The analysis of the emission kinetics of bacterial volatile organic compounds is underway and should lead to the identification of volatile compounds candidates responsible for the observed growth promotion effects. Taking into account the inherent characteristics of our in vitro system, the next experimental steps are identified and discussed from a fundamental and applied viewpoint.