Drought-tolerant rhizobacterial consortia enhance grapevine growth and tolerance to water deficit.

ABSTRACT: In both natural ecosystems and in agroecosystems, Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) significantly contribute to plant development and stress mitigation through diverse mechanisms. In recent times, their application as microbial biostimulants (MBs) has gained attention, particularly for alleviating drought stress, which increasingly threatens grapevine productivity in both modern and traditional wine-growing regions. Despite this interest, functionally validated and biosafe PGPR consortia specifically tailored for grapevine remain limited. This study isolated drought-tolerant PGPRs from grapevine rhizosphere cultivated under contrasting environmental conditions and experiencing midday leaf water potentials between -1.3 and -1.4 MPa. The isolates were ranked according to their Plan

SUBMITTER: Canavera G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12920203 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature