<i>Bacillus Cereus</i> Enhanced Phytoremediation Ability of Rice Seedlings under Cadmium Toxicity

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd⁺²) is a highly toxic metal, which significantly alters different biochemical and metabolic processes in plants. Massive amounts of Cd⁺² is being released into the environment by different anthropogenic activities. In the present study, plant growth promoting activities of bacterial strain <i>Bacillus cereus</i> was evaluated under Cd⁺² stress in two rice cultivars Basmati-385 and Shaheen Basmati. Cd⁺² stress significantly decreased plant growth and biomass production in both cultivars. However, with the inoculation of <i>B. cereus</i> under Cd⁺² treatments, reduced Cd⁺² uptake and increased antioxidant enzymes activities in rice cultivars lead to enhanced plant growth, biomass production, photosynthetic pigments, micronutrients, and lowered electrolytes leakage. This study suggests that <i>B. cereus</i> has the ability to alleviating Cd toxicity and increased phytoremediation efficiency of rice seedling under Cd stress.