Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria Associated with Sugarcane

Abstract

Sugarcane is an important cash crop for several countries and it is mainly used for sugar and ethanol (as biofuel) production. This crop consumes heavy amount of nitrogen fertilizer and get affected by bacterial and fungal diseases for which chemical treatments are not recommended. Most of the countries use approximately 200–400kgN ha−1 which is costly and hazardous for environment. For fungal disease control, farmers are advised to use disease-free seeds which is impractical due to the difficulty in diagnosing the dormant fungal infection in seed canes. Use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can minimize the cost of fertilizer, environmental hazard, and suppress the diseases as well. PGPR are very well known for their role in plant growth promotion mainly for biological nitrogen fixation, phytohormone production, and acting as biocontrol agent. Natural association of these bacteria with plants, especially with grasses is very well studied. Several PGPR like Azospirillum, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Gluconacetobacter, Herbaspirillum, etc., have been isolated from sugarcane. In this paper, a brief description of the genera, isolated up till now from sugarcane is provided. The role of these PGPR in sugarcane growth promotion and as a biocontrol agent has also been discussed.