Highly cadmium and chromium tolerant rhizosphere bacteria of Albizia julibrissin Durazz on plant growth promoting.
Wu X, Zhang M, Du C, Sun M, Hu H
Phytoremediation
Soil near old industrial sites, roadsides, and urban fill often carries invisible heavy metal contamination that quietly moves into garden plants and groundwater — this bacterium, found living on a common ornamental tree's roots, could one day be deployed to clean those patches without digging or chemicals.
Researchers found four types of helpful bacteria living in the soil around silk tree roots that can survive in heavily metal-polluted ground. One bacterium in particular, called ADJ4, was especially good at grabbing toxic cadmium and chromium out of the soil and helping plants grow bigger and stronger under those stressful conditions. Plants inoculated with ADJ4 had up to 93% more root mass and were better equipped to handle oxidative stress than untreated plants.
Key Findings
Strain ADJ4 removed 56–71% of cadmium and chromium from soil, even when both metals were present simultaneously.
Plants inoculated with ADJ4 showed up to 93% more underground biomass and up to 71% more aboveground biomass compared to uninoculated controls under heavy metal stress.
ADJ4 boosted plant stress-defense enzymes (SOD by up to 19%, POD by up to 20%) and the protective compound proline by up to 48%, helping plants cope with metal toxicity.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists isolated a soil bacterium from the roots of silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) that can remove up to 71% of cadmium and chromium from contaminated soil while significantly boosting plant growth — offering a low-cost, living tool for cleaning polluted land.
Abstract Preview
Using plant growth promoting rhizosphere strains combined with woody legumes is an effective strategy to remediate heavy metals co-contaminated pollution in soil. Despite recent breakthroughs in un...
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Albizia is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and Australia, but mostly in the Old World tropics. In some lo...