• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.261-267
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• 2012

Coastal sand dunes are important for ecosystems due to the variety of rare species that can be found in this kind of habitat, and the beautiful landscapes they create. For environmental remediation, a potential strategy is phytoremediation using the symbiotic relationship of plants and microbes in the rhizosphere, which has proven ecologically sound, safe, and cost effective. Ninety-five colonies were isolated from the rhizosphere soil (RS) or rhizoplane (RP) of Rorippa islandica, Rumex crispus, Artemisia princeps var. orientalis, Lilium sp Stellaria media, and Gramineae. These colonies were then tested for plant growth promoting activities (PGPAs) such as 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase activity, and siderphores synthesis ability. In addition, salt tolerance was evaluated at 4% and 8% salt concentrations. It was observed that amongst the test subjects about 50% of the strains had a high resistance to salinity. Many of them could produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) IAA (in RS 13.9% and in RP 7.6%), exhibited ACC deaminase activity (55.8% in RS and 36.6% in RP), and could synthesize siderphores (62.7% in RS and 50% in RP). Correlation coefficient analyses were carried out for the three kinds of plant growth promoting abilities (PGPA) and salt tolerance. A positive correlation was found between an ability to synthesize siderphores and ACC deaminase activity (r=0.605, p<0.037). Similarly, positive correlations were noted between salt tolerance and ACC deaminase activity (r=0.762, p<0.004, r=0.771), and salt tolerance and an ability to synthesize siderphores (r=0.771, p<0.003).