Abstract Description

Salinity stress is a growing concern for the agricultural sector due to climate events such as drought, which decreases the availability of freshwater required for crop irrigation. More specifically, Brassica napus, more commonly known as canola, has been reported to be sensitive to salinity stress, resulting in an array of physiological and biochemical changes within the plant, which in turn adversely affect plant health and agricultural productivity. In efforts to foster sustainable agriculture, several agronomic strategies have been investigated for alleviating salinity stress in crops, such as canola. These include seed priming, exogenous application of biostimulants and applications of growth-promoting bacteria. This study will therefore aim to identify and characterise a potential biological candidate from the South African plant, Leonotis leonurus, which will be used in the alleviation and growth promotion of B. napus. The biological candidate will be selected through various microbial characterisation assays. Once identified, the microbe will be examined for its effects on the germination and growth of B. napus under control and NaCl treatments in greenhouse and field conditions. The effect of the microbial candidate on B. napus will be further analysed through physiological, biochemical, proteomic and metabolomic analyses. This research expects that an endophyte derived from the indigenous plant L. leonurus will alleviate salinity stress and improve germination and growth in B. napus.