Abstract
To feed the increased world population, sustainability in the production of crops is the need of the hour, and exploration of an effective symbiotic association of rhizobia with legumes may serve the purpose. A laboratory-scale experiment was conducted to evaluate the symbiotic effectiveness of twenty wild rhizobial isolates (MR1-MR20) on the growth, physiology, biochemical traits, and nodulation of mung bean to predict better crop production with higher yields. Rhizobial strain MR4 resulted in a 52% increase in shoot length and 49% increase in shoot fresh mass, while MR5 showed a 30% increase in root length, with 67% and 65% improvement in root fresh mass by MR4 and MR5, respectively, compared to uninoculated control. Total dry matter of mung bean was enhanced by 73% and 68% with strains MR4 and MR5 followed by MR1 and MR3 with 60% increase in comparison to control. Rhizobial strain MR5 produced a maximum (25 nodules) number of nodules followed by MR4, MR3, and MR1 which produced 24, 23, and 21 nodules per plant. Results related to physiological parameters showed the best performance of MR4 and MR5 compared to control among all treatments. MR4 strain helped the plants to produce the lowest values of total soluble protein (TSP) (38% less), flavonoids contents (44% less), and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents (52% less) among all treatments compared to uninoculated control plants. Total phenolics contents of mung bean plants also showed significantly variable results, with the highest value of 54.79 mg kg(-1) in MR4 inoculated plants, followed by MR5 and MR1 inoculated plants, while the minimum concentration of total phenolics was recorded in uninoculated control plants of mung bean. Based on the results of growth promotion, nodulation ability, and physiological and biochemical characteristics recorded in an experimental trial conducted under gnotobiotic conditions, four rhizobial isolates (MR1, MR3, MR4, and MR5) were selected using cluster and principal component analysis. Selected strains were also tested for a variety of plant-growth-promoting molecules to develop a correlation with the results of plant-based parameters, and it was concluded that these wild rhizobial strains were effective in improving sustainable production of mung bean.