Figure 3.

Inoculation of Arabidopsis with strain BP-R2 promoted its growth in comparison to the mock-inoculated control plants under salt stress treatments. Strain BP-R2 was grown in Luria Broth (LB) medium at 30 °C and then was used to inoculate Arabidopsis plants. After inoculation, the plants were treated with 250 mM NaCl for 5 days to create salt stress treatments and were subsequently recovered for 3 days by re-watering with distilled water. After salt stress treatments, the average values of the fresh weight per plant (A), dry weight per plant (B), rosette diameter per plant (C), leaf numbers per plant (D), total leaf area per plant (E), leaf area per leaf (F), inflorescence length per plant (G), and inflorescence numbers per plant (H) of the control and the BP-R2-inoculated plants under salt stress and nonstress conditions were recorded. Data are presented as the mean ± standard error (SE) from at least three independent bacteria inoculation experiments. More than 20 individual plants were examined for each bacteria inoculation assay. Data were analyzed by Duncan tests and means with different letters were significantly different (p < 0.05). (I) shows the top-view photographs of the mock-inoculated control and the BP-R2-inoculated plants after salt stress treatments. Yellow bar = 3 cm.