Mitigation of salt stress in wheat seedlings by halotolerant bacteria isolated from saline habitats.

Eighty four halotolerant bacterial strains were isolated from the saline habitats and screened for growth at different NaCl concentrations. All grew well at 5% NaCl, but only 25% isolates showed growth at 20% NaCl concentration. Five strains SL3, SL32, SL35, J8W and PU62 growing well in 20% NaCl concentrations were further characterized for multiple plant growth promoting traits such as indole -3- acetic acid (IAA) production, HCN and siderophore production, ACC deaminase activity and P-solubilization.