To examine the effects of SA03-inoculation on the growth of Chrysanthemum plants under saline–alkaline stress, about 3-month-old plants were inoculated with this bacteria strain. After 10 days of co-culture, the non-inoculated and inoculated plants were subjected to saline–alkaline treatment for 4 weeks. There was no significant difference between the non-inoculated and inoculated plants before saline–alkaline treatment. However, the non-inoculated plants exhibited curly and yellowing leaves under saline–alkaline stress, while leaf chlorosis was hardly observed in the inoculated plants (Figure 1A). Several physiological parameters including total leaf area (LA), fresh and dry weight of plants were further examined. Soil inoculation greatly elevated about two-fold total LA in plants under the stress compared with the non-inoculated plants [Figure 1B; F(3,36) = 164.60, P < 0.05]. The inoculation with SA03 also led to 45 and 32% increase of shoot and root fresh weight, respectively [Figure 1C; F(7,72) = 296.99, P < 0.05]. Similarly, dry weight was pronouncedly increased in the inoculated plants compared with the non-inoculated plants [Figure 1D; F(7,72) = 146.08, P < 0.05]. Survival rates of plants were calculated until 8 weeks after saline–alkaline treatment. Soil inoculation resulted in a great increase of survival rates in the stress-treated plants. The non-inoculated plants grown in saline–alkaline soils for 8 weeks did not survive, while the survival rates of inoculated plants were about 76% (Figure 1E).