Abstract
ABSTRACT The effect of a soil thermophilic bacteria (STB), Ureibacillus sp. 18UE/10 on the status of wheat plants was evaluated. A greenhouse assay was performed, mimicking scenarios of soil impoverishment and aridity, which included Rhizophagus irregularis, a crop enhancer AMF, for effect comparison. Treatments with strain 18, R. irregularis or both had no significant effect on biomass production, however affected plant physiology. A different partition in biomass, nitrogen and carbon content were observed, resulting in a decreased C/N ratio. Elemental analysis showed an increase in N and P content in shoots, and for treatments containing STB a decrease in the content of several toxic metals. Strain 18 had a distinct δ13C isotopic signature translating an increased stomatal conductance. ATR-IR spectroscopy revealed that root exudate influenced STB cell wall structure and increased the bacterial survival rate at 25°C. These findings show that STB can interact with a plant partner under rhizospheric conditions.
Highlights
Ongoing global climate change will have major impacts on ecosystems services, mainly on those related with agriculture
The results showed that this strain, as the AMF, influenced the partition of biomass, nitrogen and carbon, and plant elemental composition; the content of N and P increased in the shoot tissue with both inoculants compared with the control, contrarily to the AMF, the bacterial and/or the AMF plus soil thermophilic bacteria (STB) treatment lowered the plant content of several toxic metals
Bartholomew and Paik (1966) refer that ‘the presence of obligate thermophilic bacteria in an environment having a constant temperature of about 4° C is difficult to explain.’
Summary
Ongoing global climate change will have major impacts on ecosystems services, mainly on those related with agriculture. Climate change together with the increased food demand are major triggers to enhance research in agriculture related areas, aiming at improving crop productivity and sustainability. In this context, innumerous research reports are found on the use of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria. PGPR colonize the plants’ rhizosphere and enhance their growth through direct and indirect mechanisms, many can relieve abiotic or biotic plant stress. PGPR can improve nutrient availability, synthesize phytohormones or affect plants’ hormone production, outcompete phytopathogens, enhance symbiotic relations (Lugtenberg and Kamilova 2009), and CONTACT Margarida M. Santana mmcsantana@ fc.ul.pt Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Edifício C2, Campo Grande, Lisboa 1749–016, Portugal
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