Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) is an important and is a good source of proteins, vitamins and minerals. In Pakistan local strains of mushroom are cultivated on various agricultural by-products as substrate. The widely used substrate for cultivation of the Oyster mushroom in Asia is rice straw. Keeping in view, its importance as a good source of energetic product having high protein value, the present studies were conducted to investigate the yield of exotic strains on cotton waste alone and were compared with amended rice husk under our natural environmental conditions. It was found that cotton waste + rice substrate gave the maximum yield of edible mushroom with the strain P. (sajor-caju) pulmonarious (WC-537) as compared to the substrate applied alone.

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of ACC deaminase rhizobacteria on the ACC-induced classical "triple" response in etiolated pea seedlings. Etiolated pea seedlings were exposed to different concentrations of ACC (0, 2, through 10 mmol L-1), in 100 ml glass beakers placed in airtight mason jars wrapped in green foil and incubated under dark for seven days. In another study pea seedlings were inoculated with five strains of rhizobacteria which vary in their ACC-deaminase activity. These inoculated pea seedlings were exposed to 10 mmol L-1 ACC and incubated in the darkness at 25 3 C. Results revealed that exogenous application of ACC had a concentration-dependent effect in creating classical "triple" response in etiolated pea seedlings. Our study concludes that the inoculation with rhizobacteria containing ACC deaminase could be used to decrease ACC which produces due to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses in plants.

A pot experiment was conducted to study the comparative effectiveness of rhizobacteria containing either ACC-deaminase and/or nitrogen fixing activity for promoting growth of tomato (Lycopersicon esculantum Mill) in pot trial. Isolation of rhizobacteria containing ACC- deaminase and/or nitrogen fixing ability was done by dilution plate technique. Characterization of selected isolates like root colonization, ACC-deaminase activity and indole acetic acid production was done. Seeds of tomato were inoculated with broth of selected isolates. Hoagland nutrient solution was used to provide nutrition. The results showed that rhizobacteria containing both ACC-deaminase and nitrogen fixing activity were more effective than rhizobacteria containing either ACC-deaminase or nitrogen fixing activity alone for growth promotion of tomato under controlled condition.

Salinity is one of the major constraints, whichhamper agricultural production. The higherconcentration of salts in root zone may stimulateendogenous ethylene biosynthesis in roots, whichconsequently inhibits its growth. One of the majormechanism utilized by plant growth promotingrhizobacteria (PGPR) to facilitate plant growth anddevelopment is the lowering of ethylene levels in theplant roots by deamination of1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), theimmediate precursor of ethylene in plants. In thegiven study, three pre-isolated bacterial strainshaving ACC deaminase activity were used forinoculation of wheat seeds. Inoculated seeds weresown in salt affected field, fertilized with NPK@120-100-60 kg ha-1, respectively. Data regardingvarious growth parameters and yield parameters wasrecorded at the time of harvesting and statisticallyanalyzed. From data it was concluded that plantgrowth promoting rhizobacteria containingACC-deaminase activity can enhance the growth andyield of wheat under salinity stress field conditionsand the strain ACC10 performs the best.