Nitrogen Biofixing Bacteria Compensate for the Yield Loss Caused by Viral Satellite RNA Associated with Cucumber Mosaic Virus in Tomato

Abstract

To overcome the problem of the yield reduction due to the viral satellite mediated protection, a culture mix of three nitrogen-fixing bacteria species of the genus Azospirillum (A. brasilienses N040, A. brasilienses SP7, and A. lipoferum MRB16), and one strain of cyanobacteria (Anabena oryzae Fritsch) were utilized as biofertilizer mixture in both greenhouse and field experiments. When protected plants were treated with biofertilizer mixtures, the fruit yield of biofertilized plants increased by 48% and 40% in a greenhouse and field experiment, respectively, compared to untreated plants inoculated with the protective viral strain alone. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis of total nucleic acid (TNA) extracts revealed that biofertilization did not affect the accumulation of the viral satellite RNA (CARNA 5) that is required for plant protection against other destructive viral strains of CMV. The yield increment was a good compensation for the yield loss caused by the use of the protective viral strain associated with CARNA 5.