MICROBIAL COMMUNITY IN THE SOIL RHIZOSPHERE OF HALOPHYTIC PLANTS

Halophytic plants inhabit extreme conditions of saline soils and form unique rhizosphere microbial communities with adaptive mechanisms to high osmotic stress. In this study, we investigated the composition of the rhizosphere microbial community of three halophyte species: Halocharis hispida (Schrenk) Bunge, Caroxylon dendroides (Pall.) Tzvelev, and Kalidium caspicum (L.) Ung.-Sternb., growing in saline soils of arid regions of Uzbekistan. Microbiological analysis revealed that ammonifying bacteria were present in the rhizosphere soil of Halocharis hispida plants at levels 2 and 1 orders of magnitude higher (3.3x106 CFU/g) than in the rhizosphere soil of Caroxylon dendroides and Kalidium caspicum (3x104-5 CFU/g). These results highlight the key role of the rhizosphere microbial community in the tolerance of halophytic plants to extreme conditions and open up prospects for using the isolated strains in the development of biofertilizers for saline soils.