The limited availability of water and increasing lead (Pb) pollution are posing serious challenges to agricultural crop production. Both drought and Pb stress can impede plant growth by causing severe oxidative damage via the production of reactive oxygen species. However, plants possess enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants that can act as potential mechanisms for survival under such stress conditions. The use of rhizobacteria and biochar for the regulation of antioxidants is gaining importance in this regard, but the literature on the use of deashed biochar with rhizobacteria for the alleviation of drought and Pb stress is limited. To address this gap in knowledge, the current study aimed to investigate the impact of Deashed biochar (BC) and pre-screened Agrobacterium fabrum on maize growth and biochemical attributes. Two levels of BC (0 and 0.5%) were applied with and without A. fabrum. The results revealed that the BC+A. Fabrum have greatest increase of 53.33% in germination, 102.64% in shoot length, 11.76% in root length, and 32.36% in total soluble protein in maize over the control at 400 mg Pb/kg soil. The effectiveness of BC+A. The ability of fabrum to alleviate drought stress was further validated by improvements in chlorophyll a (55.02%), chlorophyll b (50.61%), and total chlorophyll (53.37%) compared to the control. In conclusion, the use of BC+A. fabrum can be an effective approach for enhancing maize growth and biochemical attributes under drought and Pb stress conditions.

Keywords: Maize, Growth, Lead stress, Biochar, Agrobacterium fabrum