Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are capable to increase the growth and yield of crops in eco-friendly and sustainable manner. To evaluate the response of sunflower towards inoculation with PGPR, a sunflower root associated bacterium AF-54 isolated from Diyar Gali Himalayan Mountain region, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), identified as Pseudomonas sp. by 16S rRNA sequence analysis and was characterized using polyphasic approach. The bacterium produced 23.9 μgmL⁻¹ indole-3-acetic acid in tryptophan-supplemented medium, showed 44.28 nmoles mg^-1 protein h⁻¹ nitrogenase activity through acetylene reduction assay and released 48.80 μg mL⁻¹ insoluble phosphorus in Pikovskaya’s broth. During P-solubilization, the pH of the Pikovskaya’s medium decreased from 7 to 3.04 due to the production of acetic acid, malic acid and gluconic acid. Pseudomonas sp. AF-54 showed metabolic versatility by utilizing 79 carbon sources from BIOLOG GN2 plates and resistance to many antibiotics. Furthermore, it inhibited the growth of Fusarium oxysporum in dual culture assay. To evaluate the plant-inoculation response, series of experiments conducted in hydroponic, sterilized soil and fields at AJK, and Faisalabad where inoculated plants with reduced fertilizer showed a significant increase in growth, yield, oil contents and achene NP uptake as compared to non-inoculated control. AF-54 showed extensive root colonization in sterilized and non-sterile conditions documented through yfp-labeling and fluorescent in situ hybridization coupled with confocal laser scanning microscopy. This study concludes that the Pseudomonas sp. strain AF-54 containing multiple plant growth promoting traits can be a potential candidate for biofertilizer production to enhance sunflower crop yield with reduced application of chemical (NP) fertilizers.

促进植物生长的根际细菌（PGPR）能够以生态友好和可持续的方式增加农作物的生长和产量。为了评估向日葵对接种PGPR的反应，PGPR是从迪亚尔·加里·喜马拉雅山地区，Azad Jammu和克什米尔（AJK）分离的向日葵根相关细菌AF-54，被鉴定为假单胞菌（Pseudomonas sp。）。通过16S rRNA序列分析，并使用多相方法进行了表征。该细菌在色氨酸补充培养基中产生23.9μgmL ^-1吲哚-3-乙酸，通过乙炔还原测定显示44.28 nmoles mg ^-1蛋白h ^-1固氮酶活性，并释放48.80μgmL ^-1Pikovskaya肉汤中的不溶磷。在P溶解过程中，由于产生乙酸，苹果酸和葡萄糖酸，Pikovskaya培养基的pH从7降至3.04。假单胞菌属。AF-54利用来自BIOLOG GN2板的79个碳源显示出代谢的多功能性，并对多种抗生素具有抗性。此外，它还抑制了尖孢镰刀菌的生长。在双重培养测定中。为了评估植物接种的反应，在AJK和费萨拉巴德的水培，无菌土壤和田间进行了一系列实验，与未施肥相比，接种了化肥的植物显着增加了生长，产量，油含量和瘦果素NP的吸收。接种对照。AF-54在yfp标记和荧光原位杂交与共聚焦激光扫描显微镜相结合，证明在灭菌和非灭菌条件下广泛的根部定植。这项研究得出的结论是假单胞菌属。包含多种植物生长促进性状的AF-54菌株可以成为生物肥料生产的潜在候选者，以减少化学（NP）肥料的使用来提高葵花作物的产量。