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Growth response and bacterial colonization of Urochloa cultivars inoculated with different species of diazotrophs

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Abstract

Aims

Urochloa species are the most planted forage used for cattle production in the tropics. Plant-bacteria interaction is cultivar dependent, and a better understanding of this fine-tuning can be useful to improve the plant growth benefits of this association. Therefore, the current study aimed at testing the performance of six Urochloa cultivars inoculated with α (Azospirillum baldaniorum Ab-Sp245 and Nitrospirillum amazonense Na-CBAmC) and β (Herbaspirillum seropedicae Hs-HRC54) Proteobacteria by evaluating plant initial growth and root colonization.

Methods

Three experiments using Hoagland’s solution, with and without N as nitrate (0-, 0.3-, and 3-mM N) and a pot experiment using soil with 0, 30, and 60 kg ha−1 of urea measured after two harvests were described. The root colonization pattern of AFP-labelled Ab-Sp245 and Hs-HRC54 in four cultivars was studied by confocal laser scanning microscope. A randomized block design evaluated biomass accumulation, roots analysis, bacterial colonization, and N, P and K accumulation.

Results

The root architecture was modified according to the strain used and Ab-Sp245 was the one with the highest growth response, especially at N middle level. This bacterium revealed a wide colonization pattern on the cultivars’ roots, except cv. Llanero. The bacterial response was dependent on the bacterial strain, plant cultivar, and nitrogen supply.

Conclusions

From the results shown, we predict that Urochloa pastures limited in N supply will benefit if inoculation using a selected strain is applied as a seed cover. Benefits can be visualized by higher biomass production and N accumulated in a shorter period of growth.

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Data availability

All the data used in this work are presented in the form of a table or figure.

Abbreviations

AFP-labeled:

Autofluorescence protein labeled

CLSM:

Confocal laser scanning microscope

Cv:

Cultivar

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel – CAPES (Grant n. 001) and the Foundation Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro—FAPERJ for the fellowships of GCA, BJRA, and VMR. To the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development—CNPq [grant number INCT 456133/2014-2] and fellowships of ACD, BJRA, and VMR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro – UFRRJ, Agronomy Institut, Soil Departament. Km 07 BR465, Seropédica, RJ, 23890-000, Brazil

    Thamires Ferreira Rodrigues da Silva, Gabriela Cavalcanti Alves & Albiane Carvalho Dias

  2. Embrapa Agrobiologia, Km 07 BR465, Seropédica, RJ, 23891-000, Brazil

    Stefan Schwab & Veronica Massena Reis

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  1. Thamires Ferreira Rodrigues da Silva
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Contributions

VMR conceived and designed research and SW designed plant colonization. TFRS conducted experiments. GCA and ACD contributed with analytical tools. All authors analyzed data. VMR, TFRs, and GCA wrote the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Veronica Massena Reis.

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da Silva, T.F.R., Schwab, S., Alves, G.C. et al. Growth response and bacterial colonization of Urochloa cultivars inoculated with different species of diazotrophs. Plant Soil 491, 333–353 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06120-5

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