Post-harvest protective applications of rhamnolipid producing phyllospheric Pseudomonas sp. MP 11 isolated from Musa acuminata

Microorganisms residing within the diverse parts of plants play a significant role in the plant growth and defence response. Hence, the current study emphasized the isolation and screening of plant-beneficial traits of isolates obtained from leaves of Musa acuminata cultivated in Kottayam, Kerala. Among the many isolates obtained during screening, MP 11 was found to have promising activity against the tested phytopathogens viz. Fusarium rolfsii , Pythium aphanidermatum , Phytophthora infestans , Sclerotium rolfsii . This isolate was further identified as Pseudomonas sp. by the 16S rRNA-based sequence analysis. Additionally, the isolate was analysed for various plant growth promoting traits, whereby it showed its capability to solubilise zinc and phosphate, IAA, HCN and ACC deaminase production. MP 11 also showed potential to provide post-harvest protection to the rice seeds from P. aphanidermatum and S. rolfsii. Based on all these properties, the isolated PGPB could be developed into a formulation which would induce multiple beneficial impacts in the production of rice.