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The effects of different fertilization conditions on bacterial plant growth promoting traits: guidelines for directed bacterial prospection and testing

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Abstract

Aims

In this work, the effects of fertilization on diazotroph diversity and plant growth promoting traits were analyzed. An interaction model was then suggested and tested in field.

Methods

One hundred and ninety bacterial strains were isolated from rhizospheric soil and roots of rice cropped in three different fertilization conditions. Phosphate solubilization, indolic compound (IC) and siderophore production, and nitrogen fixation abilities of the isolates were screened and compared. Some isolates were selected for in vivo plant growth promotion in greenhouse and field experiments.

Results

We found that fertilization had a limited effect on diversity but had a major effect on phosphate solubilization and IC production abilities. We demonstrated that plants select bacteria that present good phosphate solubilization ability for intimate root association in lieu of good IC production under nutrient-poor conditions and select good IC producers in lieu of good phosphate solubilizers under nutrient-moderate conditions. In nutrient-rich conditions, this selection preference seems to be deactivated. In the field trial, good phosphate solubilizers only contributed effectively to plant growth at nutrient-poor conditions and good IC producers only contributed to plant growth at nutrient-moderate conditions.

Conclusions

Fertilization affects the PGP traits of the diazotrophic community. These findings may be used for directed PGPR prospection and anticipated PGPR candidate selection.

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Acknowledgements

We thank to Sídia Callegari Jacques for her valuable scientific comments. This work was financed by a Grant and fellowships from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq/Brazil) and INCT da Fixação Biológica do Nitrogênio (Brazil).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Caixa Postal 15.053, Prédio 43312, sala 207b, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, 91501-970, Brazil

    Pedro Beschoren da Costa, Rocheli de Souza & Luciane M. P. Passaglia

  2. Fundação Estadual de Pesquisa Agropecuária (FEPAGRO), Rua Gonçalves Dias 570, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, 90130-060, Brazil

    Anelise Beneduzi & Luciano Kayser Vargas

  3. Instituto Riograndense do Arroz (IRGA), Avenida Bonifácio Carvalho Bernardes 1494, Cachoeirinha, Rio Grande do Sul, 94930-030, Brazil

    Rodrigo Schoenfeld

Authors
  1. Pedro Beschoren da Costa
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  2. Anelise Beneduzi
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  3. Rocheli de Souza
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  4. Rodrigo Schoenfeld
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  5. Luciano Kayser Vargas
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  6. Luciane M. P. Passaglia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luciane M. P. Passaglia.

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Responsible Editor: Timothy Cavagnaro.

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Fig. S1

Parametric (3 X 2 factorial ANOVA after square root transformation) analysis of mean (±SD) phosphate SI according to fertilization condition and bacterial origin. Fertilization and bacterial origin had a significant interaction effect (p = 0.001), as A bacteria showed a higher phosphate SI than R bacteria on Z condition (p = 0.020) and R bacteria showed a higher phosphate SI than A bacteria in L condition (p = 0.002). At H condition, both A and R bacteria presented a similar phosphate SI (p = 0.985). Z = unfertilized, L = light fertilization, H = heavy fertilization, A = root-associated bacteria, R = rhizospheric bacteria. (JPEG 870 kb)

Fig. S2

Mean score for the siderophores SI (a) and Nase activity (b) according to bacterial origin and fertilization condition. Means (±1SE) with different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05 in the Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn’s post hoc test). ZR = unfertilized rhizospheric bacteria, ZA = unfertilized root-associated bacteria, LR = light fertilization rhizospheric bacteria, LA = light fertilization root-associated bacteria, HR = heavy fertilization rhizospheric bacteria, and HA = heavy fertilization root-associated bacteria. (JPEG 800 kb)

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da Costa, P.B., Beneduzi, A., de Souza, R. et al. The effects of different fertilization conditions on bacterial plant growth promoting traits: guidelines for directed bacterial prospection and testing. Plant Soil 368, 267–280 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1513-z

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