Objective   Effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) containing ACC deaminase on the productivity of rose bushes was studied.

  Method  A pot experiment was conducted on White Lichee , a variety of roses commonly used commercially for cut flowers.Rhizobacteria carrying the plant growth promoter, ACC deaminase, were added to the soil, and effects on the agronomic traits, such as plant height, stem girth, and number of branches, as well as the physiological indexes, such as chlorophyll a/b, leaf protective enzyme, MDA content, flower ethylene release, photosynthesis, and chlorophyll fluorescence, of the plants monitored.

  Result  In comparison with control, the incorporation of F23 or F195 PGPR, respectively, resulted in the rose bushes 25.9% and 26.0% taller with higher contents of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b; F23, 17.1% larger stem girth, significantly greater activities of urease (by 42.6%), phosphatase (by 16.3%), and sucrase (by 48.8%) in rhizosphere soil, and POD (1.78x of control) and CAT (2.07x of control) in leaf. The floral ethylene release of the bushes treated with F23 was 37.0% lower than control, while the net photosynthetic rate of the F195-treated bushes significantly rose to 1.40 times and that of F23-treated bushes 1.16 times of control.

  Conclusion   Overall, F23 appeared to most significantly promote the growth of White Lichee rose bushes among different PGPR tested.