Leaf bacteria help this medicinal herb fight disease and grow bigger
Bagul SY, Sarkar R, Suthar MK, Kumar V, S S
Medicinal Plants
If you grow medicinal herbs or just like healthy houseplants, this shows that swapping in the right leaf-dwelling bacteria at the right growth stage can fight off fungal disease and boost a plant's own chemical defenses without any spray or fertilizer.
Kalmegh is a medicinal plant whose leaves make a liver-protective compound called andrographolide, and researchers found that the community of bacteria living inside its leaves and stems changes depending on whether the plant is young, growing, or flowering. During flowering, certain bacteria seem to help the plant ramp up production of that protective compound, and some of those same bacteria can be isolated and used to fight off fungal diseases, help seeds sprout, and even increase the plant's yield and medicinal content when applied in pots.
Key Findings
Dominant bacterial genus shifted from Sphingomonas (nursery/vegetative stages) to Halobacterium during flowering
Bacillus cereus strains KL11, KL12, and KL5 inhibited Fusarium wilt and Rhizoctonia pathogens by 60-65% in lab tests
Micrococcus luteus KES1 increased herbage yield, plant height, and andrographolide content by 43% in pot trials
chevron_right Technical Summary
Bacteria living inside the medicinal plant Kalmegh shift as it flowers, and some of these microbes both boost the plant's defensive chemical compound and protect it from fungal disease. One bacterial strain increased herbage yield and the medicinal compound content by 43% in pot trials.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Culturomics and amplicon-based insights into the endophytic microbiome of Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees) and its implications in plant growth promotion.
Leaf and stem endophytic microorganisms play an important role in plant physiology and secondary metabolite biosynthesis of plants, particularly in medicinal plants. Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculat...
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