Increasing land salinization has become one of the most damaging threats to the global modern agriculture and has challenged food production and food security. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have emerged as efficient biological tools to improve plant growth in stressed environments. The present study was conducted to isolate, identify and characterize halotolerant PGPR from an unexplored saline area of Pakistan. The effect of the isolated strains was evaluated in-vitro and on the tomato varieties grown under 150 mM salt stress in the field. A total of 12 strains were isolated and further screened in-vitro to check their halotolerance. The isolates were screened using nutrient agar medium supplemented with different levels (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) of NaCl. After screening, two highly salt tolerant strains were selected and identified using 16S rRNA technique. Isolates B9 and B10 were successfully identified as Pseudarthrobacter oxydans (NR_026236.1) and Staphylococcus pasteuri (NR_024669.1). The isolates were tested qualitatively for their biochemical and plant growth promoting traits. These isolates promoted tomato growth under salinity stress when applied alone or in consortium. The isolates demonstrated catalase and protease activity, phosphorous solubilization (PSI: 2.45, 2.63) and produced indole acetic acid. The current findings established that the isolated strains were highly resistant and tolerant up to 25% NaCl stress as compared to the other reported strains. These halophiles possessed promising plant growth promoting traits hence, are assumed to have great potential to serve as bioinoculants for the alleviation of adverse effects of salinity on crops.

土地盐碱化加剧已成为全球现代农业面临的最具破坏性的威胁之一，对粮食生产和粮食安全构成挑战。促进植物生长的根际细菌 (PGPR) 已成为改善胁迫环境中植物生长的有效生物工具。本研究旨在从巴基斯坦未开发的盐碱地区分离、鉴定和表征耐盐性 PGPR。分离菌株的作用在体外和在田间 150 mM 盐胁迫下生长的番茄品种上进行了评估。共分离出12株菌株并进一步进行体外筛选检查他们的耐光性。使用补充有不同水平（5、10、15、20 和 25%）NaCl 的营养琼脂培养基筛选分离株。经过筛选，筛选出两株高耐盐菌株，利用16S rRNA技术进行鉴定。分离株 B9 和 B10 被成功鉴定为Pseudarthrobacter oxydans (NR_026236.1) 和Staphylococcus pasteuri(NR_024669.1)。对分离株的生化和植物生长促进性状进行了定性测试。当单独或联合施用时，这些分离株在盐胁迫下促进番茄生长。分离株表现出过氧化氢酶和蛋白酶活性、磷增溶作用（PSI：2.45、2.63）并产生吲哚乙酸。目前的研究结果证实，与其他报道的菌株相比，分离的菌株具有高度抗性和耐受性高达 25% 的 NaCl 胁迫。这些嗜盐菌具有有前途的植物生长促进特性，因此被认为具有作为生物接种剂的巨大潜力，可减轻盐度对作物的不利影响。