Soil contaminated by Petroleum oil cannot be utilized for agricultural purposes due to hydrocarbon
toxicity. Oil contaminated soil induces toxicity affecting germination, growth and productivity. Several
technologies have been proposed for bioremediation of oil contaminated sites, but remediation through
biosurfactant producing plant growth promontory rhizobacteria (PGPR) is considered to be most
promising methods. In the present study the efficacy of seed priming on growth and pigment of Withania
somnifera under petroleum toxicity is explored. Seeds of W. somnifera were primed with biosurfactant
producing Pseudomonas sp. AJ15 with plant growth promoting traits having potentiality to utilized petroleum
as carbon source. Results indicates that plant arose from priming seeds under various petroleum
concentration expressed high values for all the parameters studied namely germination, shoot length,
root length, fresh and dry weight and pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoid) as compared to non primed
seed. Hence, the present study signifies that petroleum degrarding biosurfactant producing PGPR could
be further used for management and detoxification of petroleum contaminated soils for growing
economically important crops.