Maximizing growth of Acacia confusa through native plant growth-promoting bacterial inoculation and seed pelleting for revegetation in landslide areas

doi:10.3832/ifor4082-018

Maximizing growth of Acacia confusa through native plant growth-promoting bacterial inoculation and seed pelleting for revegetation in landslide areas

Pertunia Nomcebo Nxumalo⁽¹⁾, Wen-Ching Chen⁽²⁾, Kai-Chi Hsu⁽³⁾, Guo-Zhang Michael Song⁽³⁾, Kuo-Jung Chao⁽⁴⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 19, Issue 1, Pages 28-37 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor4082-018
Published: Jan 11, 2026 - Copyright © 2026 SISEF

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Revegetation in landslide-affected areas is challenging due to the extensive terrain and poor soil quality. Applying bacteria with plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits offers a promising approach to support plant growth in these disturbed regions. This study aimed to investigate seed enhancement methods by selecting bacterial strains and developing seed pellet mixtures to facilitate revegetation processes. Specifically, we focused on enhancing the germination rate and growth of Acacia confusa through seed pretreatment and inoculation with native bacteria in the growing substrate for pot cultivation and seed pellets. Fifty-four native bacterial strains were isolated from the rhizosphere and endo-rhizosphere of A. confusa growing in the Dadu plateau, Taiwan. Isolates were tested for their ability to stimulate or inhibit the growth of A. confusa seeds on Petri dishes. Sixteen isolates with germination parameters significantly differing from the control were selected for pot tests. 16S rDNA gene sequencing showed that most strains belonged to the genus Bacillus and exhibited one or more PGP traits. Seedling growth parameters were significantly improved by inoculating the substrate with isolates A2TP3 (Bacillus proteolyticus) and A2SP5 (Lysinibacillus sphaericus), which exhibited strong abilities to enhance shoot growth and were therefore selected for evaluation in seed pellet production. Seed germination after inoculation in seed pellets varied with the mixture used. This study demonstrated that bacterial inoculation is a promising bio-inoculant for A. confusa on specific substrates; however, further experiments on seed pelleting mixtures are still needed.

Keywords

Acacia confusa, Bacterial Inoculation, Plant Growth-Promoting (PGP) Bacteria, Revegetation, Seed Pellets

Authors’ address

(1)

0009-0002-1949-1957
Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101 (Taiwan)

(2)

International Bachelor Program in Agribusiness, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, 40227 (Taiwan)

(3)

0009-0006-1777-651X
0000-0002-9266-3690
Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 40227 (Taiwan)

(4)

0000-0003-4063-0421
International Master Program in Agriculture, Innovation and Development Center of Sustainable Agriculture, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung City, 402 (Taiwan)

Corresponding author

Kuo-Jung Chao
kjungchao@nchu.edu.tw

Citation

Nxumalo PN, Chen W-C, Hsu K-C, Song G-ZM, Chao K-J (2026). Maximizing growth of Acacia confusa through native plant growth-promoting bacterial inoculation and seed pelleting for revegetation in landslide areas. iForest 19: 28-37. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4082-018

Academic Editor

Maurizio Ventura

Paper history

Received: Feb 21, 2022
Accepted: Jul 14, 2025

First online: Jan 11, 2026
Publication Date: Feb 28, 2026
Publication Time: 6.03 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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