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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (3): 119-124.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2025-0278

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Effects of Inoculating Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria on Physiological Characteristics of Maize Leaves in Medium- and Low-yield Soils

LIU Guimin1(), SU Lei2, ZHENG Xiaoning3, CHEN Di1(), LIU Binghua1, SUN Mingjie1, LIU Xinghong1, XU Yingmei4()   

  1. 1 Shandong Academy of Forest, Jinan 250014
    2 Shandong Forestry Science and Technology Training Center, Jinan 250013
    3 Inspection and Testing center of Wudi County, Wudi, Shandong 251900
    4 Agricultural Comprehensive Service Center of Yangzhuang Town, Yishui County, Shandong Province, Linyi, Shandong 276412
  • Received:2025-04-26 Revised:2025-08-15 Online:2026-02-15 Published:2026-02-09

Abstract:

This study aimed to investigate the effect of inoculating plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on the physiological characteristics of maize leaves in medium- and low-yield soils. A pot experiment was conducted using the maize variety ‘Zhengdan 958’ as the test material. Four treatments were established, namely the control, inoculation with the culture medium, inoculation with inactivated PGPR, and inoculation with active PGPR. The indices including antioxidant enzymes, non-enzymatic antioxidant substances, osmotic regulatory substances and endogenous hormones in maize leaves were determined by the kit method. The results indicated that compared with the control, the inoculation with PGPR treatment significantly increased the activities of peroxidase (POD) and glutathione reductase (GR), as well as the contents of non-enzymatic antioxidant substances and promoting hormones, and the ratios of IAA/ABA, GA/ABA, ZT/ABA, and (IAA + GA + ZT)/ABA in maize leaves. Conversely, it significantly decreased the contents of soluble sugars, proline, and abscisic acid (ABA) in the leaves, showing 59.46% and 56.91% increases in the activities of POD and GR, as well as 40.32% and 23.87% decreases in the contents of soluble sugars and ABA, in comparison to the control group, respectively. Additionally, compared with the PGPR inoculation treatment, the effects of culture medium inoculation and inactivated PGPR inoculation on the physiological characteristics of maize leaves were relatively smaller. Comprehensive analysis revealed that root inoculation with PGPR could enhance the adaptability of maize plants in medium- and low-yield soils by regulating the antioxidant system, the contents of osmotic adjustment substances and endogenous hormones, and the balance of these hormones in maize leaves.

Key words: medium- and low-yield soils, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, maize, antioxidant system, endogenous hormone balance, osmotic adjustment substance, tolerance