Elecampane rough (Inula aspera Poir.) a new species actinorhizal plants of the flora of the North Caucasus

Abstract

Increasing the efficiency of the biological nitrogen fixation process through symbiosis with soil bacteria is an important strategic task of biology and agriculture. The degree of study of actinorhizic symbiosis in comparison with legume-rhizobial symbiosis is insufficient. This concerns the species diversity of actinorhizal plants, species-specific ecological conditions of nitrogen fixation, physiological and biochemical interactions of the endophyte and the host plant. The result of the research was the identification of a new species of actinorhizal plants - elecampane rough (Inula aspera Poir., Family Asteraceae). In the root nodule of I. aspera, zones of the apical meristem, infection of Frankia plant cells, zones of induction of nitrogen fixation, nitrogen fixation, and aging were identified. The result of symbiotic nitrogen fixation is an increase in the average height of shoots and the number of leaves, an increase in the aboveground phytomass of the content of crude protein, alkaloids and glycosaminoglycans. The results obtained make a certain contribution to the study of the mechanisms of symbiotic nitrogen fixation of non-leguminous plants and their adaptation to environmental stress conditions. Expanding the use of biodiversity of nitrogen-fixing actinorhizal plants and understanding the mechanism of biological nitrogen fixation outside the symbiosis of legumes and rhizobia can become an alternative direction for the creation of non-legume nitrogen-fixing crops, biological reclamation of disturbed lands, and soil enrichment with accessible forms of nitrogen.