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Establishment of inoculatedAzospirillum spp. in the rhizosphere and in roots of field grown wheat and sorghum

  • Biology of Interactions between Plants and Diazotrophic Bacteria
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Summary

Four field experiments were carried out with wheat or sorghum in different regions of Brazil. The aim was to study the establishment of inoculatedAzospirillum strains, marked with resistance to various antibiotics, in the rhizosphere and in roots. The levels of the various antibiotics were chosen according to the resistance of the indigenousAzospirillum population.Azospirillum brasilense strains Sp 107 and Sp 245 could be established in all three wheat experiments and predominated within theAzospirillum population in washed, and especially in surface sterilized, roots. Strains Sp 7 and Cd established poorly in wheat roots.Azospirillum lipoferum Sp S82 represented 72% of the root isolates from sorghum inoculated with this strain. This strain and naturalAzospirillum infection became concentrated in the upper parts of the root system. Improved methods for root surface sterilization in which the absence ofAzospirillum on the root surface was established by pre-incubating roots with paraffin-capped ends in NFb medium confirmed the establishment of inoculatedAzospirillum strains within sorghum roots in the field.

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Baldani, V.L.D., Alvarez, M.A.d.B., Baldani, J.I. et al. Establishment of inoculatedAzospirillum spp. in the rhizosphere and in roots of field grown wheat and sorghum. Plant Soil 90, 35–46 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02277385

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