Eco-friendly role of serratia marcescens and pseudomonas fluorescens in enhancing rice growth and mitigating cadmium toxicity via uptake modulation and antioxidant regulation

), which also induced increased compounds of various enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants and also the gene expression and sugar content. Furthermore, a significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in proline metabolism, the ascorbate-glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycle were observed. Although, the application of S. marcescens and P. fluorescens showed a significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in plant growth and biomass, gas exchange characteristics, enzymatic and non-enzymatic compounds, and their gene expression and also decreased oxidative stress. In addition, the application of S. marcescens and P. fluorescens enhanced cellular fractionation and decreased the proline metabolism and AsA-GSH cycle in O. sativa plants. Research findings, therefore, suggest that the application of S. marcescens and P. fluorescens can ameliorate Cd toxicity in O. sativa, resulting in improved plant growth and composition under metal stress, as depicted by balanced antioxidant defense mechanism.