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Improvement of soybean grain nutritional quality under foliar inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense strain Az39

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Abstract

Legumes depend on biological nitrogen fixation through symbiosis with rhizobia to meet their nitrogen requirements. Certain plant growth promoting rizobacteria such as Azospirillum may cooperate in the establishment and maintenance of effective legume-rhizobia symbiosis. The aim of this work was to assess if foliar inoculation of soybean with Azospirillum brasilense Az39 has advantages over inoculation with this bacterium at sowing in combination with Bradyrhizobium japonicum E109 inoculation. To test this, glasshouse and field experiments were carried out. Higher shoot biomass was observed at V6 and R2 stages under foliar inoculation of A. brasilense Az39 as compared to coinoculation at sowing. Additionally, increased root dry biomass and higher nodule number and nodule fresh weight per plant were found at V6. Leghemoglobin levels in nodules were significantly greater in foliar-inoculated plants at both stages (V6 and R2) as compared with seed-inoculated plants. In line with these positive effects of foliar inoculation with A. brasilense Az39 on soybean growth and nodulation, grains harvested from foliar-inoculated plants had higher nitrogen and protein contents than those harvested from plants coinoculated at sowing. This was corroborated for two soybean varieties cultivated at two different locations. Our findings may open new insights into soybean agricultural technology.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Fondo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (FONCyT) and Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA, Argentina). Fabricio Cassán is a Researcher of CONICET at the UNRC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Microbiología y Zoología Agrícola (Argentina), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mariana L. Puente

  2. Departamento Química Biológica, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Myriam Zawoznik

  3. Agencia de Extensión Rural Tandil (Argentina), Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Marcelo López de Sabando

  4. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Barnetche-Bolívar (Argentina), Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gonzalo Perez

  5. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Susana M. Carletti

  6. Laboratorio de Fisiología Vegetal y de la Interacción planta-microorganismo. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, FCEFQyN, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Ruta 36, Km 601, Río Cuarto, 5800, Córdoba, Argentina

    José L. Gualpa & Fabricio D. Cassán

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  1. Mariana L. Puente
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  3. Marcelo López de Sabando
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  7. Fabricio D. Cassán
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Correspondence to Fabricio D. Cassán.

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Puente, M.L., Zawoznik, M., de Sabando, M.L. et al. Improvement of soybean grain nutritional quality under foliar inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense strain Az39. Symbiosis 77, 41–47 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-018-0568-x

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