Abstract
Casuarina junghuhniana Miq. fixes atmospheric nitrogen (N) through the symbiotic relationship with Frankia, a soil actinomycete group. The roots of C. junghuhniana produce root nodules where the bacteria fix atmospheric N, which is an essential nutrient for all plant metabolic activities. High-yielding and genetically superior trees of C. junghuhniana are selected and propagated vegetatively for commercial use. Yet, as the vegetative propagation uses inert material (vermiculite) for rooting, there is no chance for Frankia association that results absence of root nodules in rooted stem cuttings. Therefore, after planting of these stocks, there is a necessity to apply chemical fertilizers for N supply that increase the planting cost. To reduce the chemical fertilizers costs and to establish the N fixation in vegetatively propagated rooted stem cuttings of C. junghuhniana, the isolated actinomycete Frankia from root nodules of C. junghuhniana was cultured in artificial liquid P media and applied in this study. Application of the Frankia inoculum at the rate of 5 ml during the root initiation stage resulted in the development of an average of 12 nodules, weighing 43-mg/rooted stem cuttings of C. junghuhniana after 25 days. The rooted stem cuttings of C. junghuhniana were also on increase in shoot and root growth, number of lateral roots, shoot biomass, root biomass and tissue N content due to inoculation of Frankia. In this study, the acetylene reduction assay on Frankia liquid culture was also made and found the release of 150.69 nmol of C2H4/mg of protein/h in gas chromatography. This study supports the inoculation of Frankia in rooted stem cuttings of C. junghuhniana for biological N fixation so as to reduce the chemical fertilizers.
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Acknowledgments
The author expresses his thanks to the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi, India, for financial support in form of a research project (Project No. BT/PR10464/AG/21/239/2008).
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Karthikeyan, A. (2013). Nodulation and Nitrogen Fixation in Rooted Stem Cuttings of Casuarina junghuhniana Miq. by Frankia Inoculation. In: Velu, R. (eds) Microbiological Research In Agroecosystem Management. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1087-0_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1087-0_19
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