Abstract
Drought stress is one of the major limiting factors in agriculture globally, hampering crop yields in approximately 70% of arable farmlands. In this regard, microbial-biostimulants, such as plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR)-based formulations, have been proven to provide sustainable and economically favorable solutions that could introduce novel approaches to improve agricultural practices and crop productivity under adverse environmental conditions. However, to devise these novel biostimulants-based agricultural strategies, there is a necessity to firstly understand the physiology and biochemistry governing the interactions between biostimulants and plants. Herein, targeted metabolomics, epigenetics and gene expression analyses were employed to elucidate molecular mechanisms governing plant growth-promotion, stress priming and enhanced drought stress responses induced by a microbial-based biostimulant formulation (a consortium of five Bacillus sp. strains) in maize (Zea mays) plants...
M.Sc. (Biochemistry)