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Rhizobium as plant probiotic for strawberry production under microcosm conditions

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Abstract

There is increasing interest in the use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) as environmental-friendly and healthy biofertilizers. Strawberries (Fragraria x ananassa) are mainly consumed fresh and hence any PGPRs used for biofertilization must be safe for humans, which is the case for members of the genus Rhizobium. In this study, the effects of inoculation of strawberry plants with Rhizobium sp. strain PEPV16, which belongs to the phylogenetic group of R. leguminosarum, and whose plant growth promotion ability has been reported previously for lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and carrots (Daucus carota), was examined. The results demonstrated that PEPV16 promotes strawberry growth through significant increases in the number of stolons, flowers and fruits as compared with uninoculated controls. Compared to uninoculated controls, the fruits of the inoculated plants had higher concentrations of Fe, Zn, Mn and Mo, and they also had higher concentrations of organic acids, such as citric and malic acid, and lower amounts of ascorbic acid than fruits. Although decreases in ascorbic acid have previously been described after the inoculation of strawberry with strains from different PGPR genera, this is the first study to report increases in organic acids after PGPR inoculation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was sponsored by the “Junta de Castilla y León” (Grant SA183A11-2), MINECO (Grant AGL2011-29227) and by the “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia”–FCT (PEst-C/SAU/UI0709/2014). Co-funded by the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional - FEDER via the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade-COMPETE/QREN. PGF is the recipient of a postdoctoral researcher contract from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. JDFF, MMG and EM were supported by PhD fellowships from the University of Salamanca, the “Miguel Casado San José” foundation, and MICINN, respectively. LRS acknowledges FCT for a Post-doc Grant (SFRH/BPD/105263/2014). The authors thank Nicholas Skinner for English corrections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    José-David Flores-Félix, Marta Marcos-García, Esther Menéndez, Eustoquio Martínez-Molina, Pedro F. Mateos, Encarna Velázquez, Paula García-Fraile & Raúl Rivas

  2. REQUIMTE/. Laboratório de Farmacognosia, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Luis R. Silva & Paula Andrade

  3. Unidad Asociada Universidad de Salamanca -CSIC (IRNASA), Salamanca, Spain

    Eustoquio Martínez-Molina, Pedro F. Mateos, Encarna Velázquez & Raúl Rivas

  4. Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Lab. 209. Edificio Departamental de Biología. Campus M. Unamuno, 37007, Salamanca, Spain

    José-David Flores-Félix

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  1. José-David Flores-Félix
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  2. Marta Marcos-García
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  3. Luis R. Silva
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  4. Esther Menéndez
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  7. Encarna Velázquez
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  8. Paula García-Fraile
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  9. Paula Andrade
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Correspondence to José-David Flores-Félix.

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Flores-Félix, JD., Marcos-García, M., Silva, L.R. et al. Rhizobium as plant probiotic for strawberry production under microcosm conditions. Symbiosis 67, 25–32 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-015-0373-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-015-0373-8

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