Search

Drought stress severely affects the physiology and metabolism of plants. Fortunately, using plant growth-promoting bacteria can provide an environmentally friendly solution. Hence, the present experiment was conducted on the sorghum plant for drought amelioration by utilizing Bacillus sp. and Pseudacidovorax intermedius bacterization to the sorghum seeds under greenhouse conditions. Drought stress was induced by the withholding of water after 52 days of emergence (flowering stage). However, the inoculation of Bacillus sp. and Pseudacidovorax intermedius could significantly improve the drought tolerance capacity through the production of different antioxidant enzymes and metabolites in sorghum plants under drought and recovery conditions. The results declared that the inoculation of Bacillus sp. significantly reduced the membrane leakage by 37 % by minimizing the production of malondialdehyde (49 & 47 %) and hydrogen peroxide (32 & 36 %) content. In addition to protecting membrane leakage, bacterial inoculation positively modulates the antioxidant enzymes namely catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and phenol content in the plant system. Metabolomic results revealed that inoculation of Bacillus sp. and consortia of Bacillus sp. and Pseudacidovorax intermedius up regulate the carboxylic acid, organic, and amino acids biomolecules expression inside the inoculated plants. The study concluded that inoculation of Bacillus sp. is an assured technology for mitigating the drought effect through the expression of antioxidant compounds, and expression of leaf metabolites in sorghum during drought conditions. Further, the research needs to comprehend the underlying molecular mechanism of bacterial-induced drought-tolerant in sorghum plants. It will also create a road map to develop a bestselling bioinoculant for climate-smart agriculture.

Gradual increase in the pace of urbanization has brought an increase in demand for rapid transit systems throughout the nation. An increase in traffic congestion on roads has led to the recent advent of the Mass rapid transit system thereby accelerating the commuter's interest to prefer them over the conventional railway system. Over the past few years, rapid transit systems like metros have been trying to maintain a steady count of ridership by attracting new commuters while retaining the existing commuters. Thus, it has become routine for organizations to identify the service parameters that serve as the essence of commuter satisfaction or dissatisfaction by implementing additional necessary changes based on commuter perceptions. The study is focused on the service quality measures adopted by the Chennai metro rail operations which have led them to maintain a steady pace of passengers amidst the pandemic season. The resultant statistical analysis and fuzzy evaluation method are confined to about 74.6% indicating decent fitness of the sample size. The significance value of coach conditioning amenities is 0.002 and the ambiance facility is 0.003, further indicating the need to maintain their service pace. Hospitality facility that accounts for a significance value of about 0.000 needs the most improvement to influence the overall service quality satisfaction of commuters towards improving their ridership statistics.

The first and foremost response of plants to any external stimuli, including herbivorous insect attack is the generation of reactive oxygen species, which majorly occurs in the chloroplast followed by mitochondria, peroxisomes, cell membrane, and cell wall. Under these circumstances, the photosynthetic efficiency of the plant system dramatically influences the plant biomass and yield. Although arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), Glomus intraradices and Rhizobium improve plant growth through nutritional modes, their impact on protecting chloroplast from herbivoreinduced damage is not yet explored. In this regard, experiments were carried out to examine the changes in chlorophyll composition (Chl a & b), and biomass production of Rhizobium and AMF inoculated plants infested with Spodoptera litura. Among various treatments, AMF and Rhizobium inoculated plants showed higher chlorophyll a and b than uninoculated control. Upon the herbivore attack, there was a drastic reduction in the chlorophyll content (a & b) in all the treatments. However, the reduction in chlorophyll content upon S. litura attack was lesser in plants inoculated either with AMF or in the combination of AMF and Rhizobium. Similarly, these microbial inoculants protected the plants from S. litura damage by sustaining the biomass productivity. These results highlight the synergistic effects of AMF and Rhizobium in protecting the black gram plants from herbivore-induced damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]