{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T06:27:13Z","timestamp":1787120833776,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020595","name":"National Science and Technology Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NSTC 111-2313-B-002-009-MY3,  NSTC 114-2313-B-002 -014 -MY3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NSTC 111-2313-B-002-009-MY3,  NSTC 114-2313-B-002 -014 -MY3"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Saline-alkaline stress is an increasing threat to agricultural productivity due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) have emerged as a sustainable approach to enhance crop growth and stress tolerance under adverse environmental conditions. In this study, two halotolerant strains,\n                      <jats:italic>Kocuria palustris<\/jats:italic>\n                      Pp13 (Pp13) and\n                      <jats:italic>Bacillus aryabhattai<\/jats:italic>\n                      Pp16 (Pp16), isolated from the endosphere of Napier grass, were selected to analyze their stress tolerance mechanisms and evaluate their plant growth-promoting traits under saline-alkaline conditions.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The stress tolerance and plant growth-promoting traits of Pp13 and Pp16 was evaluated under different salinity and pH conditions. The effects of bacterial inoculation on the growth and stress tolerance of foxtail millet (\n                      <jats:italic>Setaria italica<\/jats:italic>\n                      L.) were assessed by analyzing plant growth, osmotic and oxidative stress responses, and ion accumulation under saline-alkaline conditions.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Both Pp13 and Pp16 formed biofilms and accumulated proline under stress conditions, while their phosphorus-solubilizing activity was only slightly affected by elevated salinity and pH. Notably, Pp13 maintained IAA-like metabolite production and ACC deaminase activity under stress conditions. Inoculation with either strains significantly improved the growth and stress tolerance of foxtail millet under saline-alkaline conditions. Bacterial inoculation increased proline accumulation, elevated ascorbate peroxidase activity, improved photosynthetic performance, and reduced oxidative damage and sodium accumulation, resulting in greater biomass accumulation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      These findings demonstrate that Pp13 and Pp16 possess multiple stress-adaptive and plant growth-promoting traits that contribute to improved crop performance under saline-alkaline conditions. The results highlight the potential of these strains as bioinoculants for sustainable crop production in saline-alkaline soils and identify\n                      <jats:italic>Kocuria<\/jats:italic>\n                      species as a relatively unexplored source of beneficial microorganisms for enhancing plant stress tolerance.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1910313","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T05:44:39Z","timestamp":1787118279000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Halotolerant Kocuria and Bacillus species enhanced saline-alkaline stress tolerance in foxtail millet"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Chih-Ning","family":"Ko","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tan-Yu","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei-Yi","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1016\/s0076-6879(84)05016-3","article-title":"Catalase in vitro","volume":"105","author":"Aebi","year":"1984","journal-title":"Methods Enzymol."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3091","DOI":"10.1007\/s11756-021-00826-6","article-title":"Biotechnological approaches in agriculture and environmental management - bacterium Kocuria rhizophila 14ASP as heavy metal and salt- tolerant plant growth- promoting strain","volume":"76","author":"Afridi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Biologia"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms11071687","article-title":"The plant growth-promoting potential of halotolerant bacteria is not phylogenetically determined: Evidence from two Bacillus megaterium strains isolated from saline soils used to grow wheat","volume":"11","author":"Ait Bessai","year":"2023","journal-title":"Microorganisms"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fsufs.2025.1712126","article-title":"Plant growth-promoting effect of Kocuria sp. and Brevibacillus sp. strains on tomato under different irrigation conditions","volume":"9","author":"Almalkawi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front. 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