A seed microbiome is likely to have important impacts on plant fitness and productivity but functional potentials of seed microbiome remain poorly understood. It is also suggested that bio-inoculants developed from or compatible with seed microbiome are more likely to produce desired outcomes of sustainable increase in agriculture productivity but few empirical evidences are available. The aim of this study was to identify culturable endophytes of the germinating and dry seeds of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), and their functional attributes. We isolated 29 bacterial strains from chickpea seeds (8 strains from dry and 21 strains from germinating seeds). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA showed that the seed endophytic bacteria belong to Enterobacter sp., Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Staphylococcus sp., Pantoea sp. and Mixta sp. Isolates produced significant amount of Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) (Enterobacter hormaechei BHUJPCS-15; 58.91 μg/ml), solubilised phosphate (Bacillus subtilis BHUJPCS-24; 999.85 μg/ml) and potassium, ammonia (Bacillus subtilis BHUJPCS-12; 148.73 μg/ml), and also inhibited the growth of chickpea pathogen (Pseudomonas aeruginosa BHUJPCS-7 against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris) under laboratory conditions. Several seed endophytes induced significant increase in plant growth and increased tolerance of chickpea plants to the pathogen (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris) when tested in vitro. Re-introduction of these isolates, resulted in significant increase in plant length, biomass and chlorophyll contents and bio-controlling activity against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris. These results provide a direct evidence for the presence of beneficial seed microbiome and suggest these isolates could be further developed into potential bio-inoculants for improving diseases management and sustainable increase in agriculture productivity.

种子微生物组可能会对植物的适应性和生产力产生重要影响，但种子微生物组的功能潜力仍然知之甚少。还建议从种子微生物组开发或与种子微生物组相容的生物接种物更有可能产生可持续提高农业生产力的预期结果，但几乎没有经验证据。这项研究的目的是确定鹰嘴豆（Cicer arietinum L.）的发芽和干燥种子的可培养内生菌及其功能属性。我们从鹰嘴豆种子中分离出29个细菌菌株（其中8个来自干燥种子，21个来自发芽种子）。基于16S rDNA的系统发育分析表明，种子内生细菌属于肠杆菌属，芽孢杆菌属，假单胞菌属，葡萄球菌属，泛菌属等。和Mixta sp。分离物产生了大量的吲哚-3-乙酸（IAA）（霍马肠杆菌BHUJPCS -15; 58.91μg/ ml），溶解的磷酸盐（枯草芽孢杆菌BHUJPCS-24; 999.85μg/ ml）和钾，氨（枯草芽孢杆菌BHUJPCS- 12; 148.73μg/ ml），并且还抑制鹰嘴豆病原菌的生长（铜绿假单胞菌BHUJPCS-7对抗尖孢镰刀菌（Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris））在实验室条件下。当在体外测试时，几种种子内生菌诱导了鹰嘴豆植物对病原体（尖孢镰刀菌（Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris））的植物生长显着增加和耐受性增强。这些分离物的重新引入，导致植物长度，生物量和叶绿素含量的显着增加以及对尖孢镰刀菌（Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.）的生物防治活性。西塞里斯。这些结果为存在有益的种子微生物组提供了直接的证据，并表明这些分离株可以进一步发展为潜在的生物接种剂，以改善疾病管理和可持续提高农业生产力。