Mutation breeding of by atmospheric room temperature plasma to enhance phosphorus solubilization ability.

Background: Phosphorus (P) is abundant in soils, including organic and inorganic forms. Nevertheless, most of P compounds cannot be absorbed and used by plants. v. Tiegh is a strain that can efficiently degrade P compounds in soils.

Methods: In this study, xj strain was mutated using Atmospheric Room Temperature Plasma (ARTP) technology and the strains were screened by Mo-Sb Colorimetry with strong P-solubilizing abilities.

Results: Compared with the xj strain, setting the treatment time of mutagenesis to 120 s, four positive mutant strains marked as xj 90-32, xj120-12, xj120-31, and xj180-22 had higher P-solubilizing rates by 50.3%, 57.5%, 55.9%, and 61.4%, respectively. Among them, the xj120-12 is a highly efficient P solubilizing and growth-promoting strain with good application prospects. The growth characteristics such as plant height, root length, and dry and fresh biomass of peanut ( L.) increased by 33.5%, 43.8%, 43.4%, and 33.6%, respectively. Besides available P, the chlorophyll and soluble protein contents also vary degrees of increase in the P-solubilizing mutant strains.

Conclusions: The results showed that the ARTP mutagenesis technology can improve the P solubilization abilities of the mutant strains and make the biomass of peanut plants was enhanced of mutant strains.