Numbers Of Fluorescent Pseudomonads Research Articles

Impact of soil temperature, pH and carbon dioxide on the population and efficiency of fluorescent pseudomonad in the rhizosphere soil of Pokkali rice

The present study was aimed at the evaluation of soil temperature, pH and carbon dioxide evolution on the number and efficiency of fluorescent pseudomonads around the root system of Pokkali rice at Vytilla in Ernakulam district of Kerala. Two plots (40 m2) comprising control (without application of Pseudomonas fluorescens) and P. fluorescens treated plants were used for the field experiment. The isolates of fluorescent Pseudomonads or Pseudomonas fluorescence were counted and their efficiency was assessed for IAA, ammonia, HCN and siderophore production. Simultaneously, soil temperature, pH, and carbon dioxide evolution were also recorded. A total of 6 fluorescent pseudomonads (VPJU, VPJL, VPAU1, VPAU2, VPAU3 and VPAU4) were found during the crop period. All the isolates produced IAA and ammonia with varying degrees of intensity. Three isolates (VPAU1, VPAU3 and VPAU4) produced HCN, and no microbial isolates produced siderophore. The effect of soil temperature, pH, EC and carbon dioxide evolution was correlated with the number of fluorescent pseudomonads in the soil. The bacteria were significantly afflicted by pH and EC, whereas soil temperature and CO2 evolution did not show any effect on the number of fluorescent pseudomonads. There was no significant influence of soil temperature, pH, EC and carbon dioxide evolution on indole acetic acid production, ammonia, and HCN production. Inoculated Pseudomonas fluorescence did not survive in Pokkali rice fields. However, further studies are needed for at least three seasons in Pokkali soils to confirm the results of the present study.

Occurrence of tomato pith necrosis caused by Pseudomonas marginalis in Italy

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Fitosanitarie. Universita` degli Studi di Catania. Via Santa Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, ItalyIn 2006, a serious outbreak of tomato pith necrosis (TPN) with approxi-mately 90% disease incidence was observed in two greenhouses in Sicily.Adult fruiting plants showed chlorosis and slight wilting of shoot apices.Internalstem browning alongthe entire length oftheplant was observed.Pith tissues were soft but not rotted or hollowed. Only fluorescent colo-nies developed on King’s B medium (KB) after isolation from infected tis-sues. Ten pure isolates were all levan, oxidase, potato soft-rotting andarginine dihydrolase positive and were negative for tobacco hypersensi-tivity; they produced 2-ketogluconate, nitrate reductase, acid fromsucroseandlecithinasefromeggyolk,andwerethusLOPATgroupIVaofthe fluorescent pseudomonads, which corresponds to Pseudomonasmar-ginalis.Tomato cv. Marmande plantlets (ten plantlets per isolate) were prickinoculated at the axil of the first true leaf with a pin coated with 24 hr-old cells grown on KB. After inoculation, plants were covered withplastic bags for 48 h, then uncovered and kept in a growth chamber at27 C with a photoperiod of 16⁄8 h. Two weeks after inoculation, allshowed extensive stem pith browning extending 2-4 cm from the inoc-ulation point. Two representative bacterial isolates were identified asP. marginalis by using the Biolog Identification System (version 4AE2;Biolog, Inc.) with a similarity of 0AE93. Their partial 16S rDNAsequences were identical and they shared 99-100% identity with otherP. marginalis strains available in GenBank. These results confirm theiridentity as P.marginalis.Pseudomonas corrugata and P. mediterranea are considered the maincausal agents of TPN (Catara, 2007) although a number of fluorescentpseudomonads have also been identified in different countries as causalagents. They include P.cichorii, P.viridiflava, P.fluorescens (Sutraetal.,1997;LoCantoreIAlippietal.,2003) andthe fluores-cent Pseudomonas strains assigned to three unnamed genomospecies bySutra et al. (1997). However, this is the first report of P. marginalis as acausalagentofTPN.References

Interação de bactérias fluorescentes do gênero Pseudomonas e de Bacillus spp. com a rizosfera de diferentes plantas

Embora haja muitos trabalhos na literatura com rizobactérias promotoras do crescimento de plantas (RPCPs), existem poucos que expliquem seu mecanismo de ação. É possível que algumas rizosferas favoreçam a colonização radicular por RPCPs, facilitando o estabelecimento da interação planta-bactéria, como se houvesse certa especificidade entre ambas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar se a rizosfera de alface, em comparação com a de outras espécies vegetais, favorece o estabelecimento de bactérias fluorescentes do gênero Pseudomonas, em comparação com as do gênero Bacillus. Coletaram-se amostras do sistema radicular de alface, rúcula, chicória, salsa e tiririca em oito propriedades de produtores comerciais de hortaliças, na região de Campinas, SP. Foi feita a contagem de Pseudomonas spp. fluorescentes e de Bacillus spp. por diluição em série e plaqueamento. De maneira geral, observou-se maior crescimento de Pseudomonas spp. fluorescentes na rizosfera de alface-crespa em relação à de outras plantas, mas isso não ocorreu com Bacillus spp.

The mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices and rock phosphate amendment influence plant growth and microbial activity in the rhizosphere of Acacia holosericea

Plants inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi utilize more soluble phosphorus from soil mineral phosphate than non-inoculated plants. However, there is no information on the response of soil microflora to mineral phosphate weathering by AM fungi and, in particular, on the catabolic diversity of soil microbial communities. The AM fungus, Glomus intraradices was examined for (i) its effect on the growth of Acacia holosericea, (ii) plant-available phosphate and (iii) soil microbial activity with and without added rock phosphate. After 4-months culture, AM fungal inoculation significantly increased the plant biomasses (by 1.78× and 2.23× for shoot and root biomasses, respectively), while mineral phosphate amendment had no effect in a sterilized soil. After 12-months culture, the biomasses of A. holosericea plants growing in a non-sterilized soil amended with mineral phosphate were significantly higher than those recorded in the control treatment (by 2.5× and 5× for shoot and root biomasses, respectively). The fungal inoculation also significantly stimulated plant growth, which was significantly higher than that measured in the mineral phosphate treatment. When G. intraradices and mineral phosphate were added together to the soil, shoot growth were significantly stimulated over the single treatments (inoculation or amendment) (1.45×). The P leaf mineral content was also higher in the G. intraradices+mineral phosphate treatment than in G. intraradices or rock phosphate amendment. Moreover, the number of fluorescent pseudomonads has been significantly increased when G. intraradices and/or mineral phosphate were added to the soil. By using a specific type of multivariate analysis (co-inertia analysis), it has been shown that plant growth was positively correlated to the metabolization of ketoglutaric acid, and negatively linked to the metabolisation of phenylalanine and other substrates, which shows that microbial activity is also affected. G. intraradices inoculation is highly beneficial to the growth of A. holosericea plants in controlled conditions. This AM symbiosis optimises the P solubilization from the mineral phosphate and affects microbial activity in the hyphosphere of A. holosericea plants.

Bacterial associations with the mycorrhizosphere and hyphosphere of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae

Roots and mycorrhizal fungi may not associate with soil bacteria randomly, but rather in a hierarchical structure of mutual preferences. Elucidation of such structures would facilitate the management of the soil biota to enhance the stability of the plant-soil system. We conducted an experiment utilizing two isolates of soil bacteria to determine their persistence in distinct mycorrhizal regions of the root zone, and their effects on general rhizosphere populations of fluorescent pseudomonads (FP). Split-root sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) plants were grown in four-compartment containers, constructed so that the soils in individual compartments held either (1) roots colonized by the arbuscular-mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus mosseae (M), (2) nonAM roots only (R), (3) hyphae of G. mosseae (H), or (4) no mycorrhizal structures (S). The soils were inoculated (107 cells g-1 dry soil) with antibiotic-resistant (rifampicin, rif; streptomycin, sm) strains of the soil bacteria, Alcaligenes eutrophus (rifr50) or Arthrobacter globiformis (smr250), or were left uninoculated as control. A. eutrophus had been isolated from a specific source (hyphosphere soil of G. mosseae), and A. globiformis from mycorrhizosphere soils of two AM fungi. After 10 wk of growth, the presence of A. eutrophus was barely detectable ( R>H>S. There was a positive correlation of FP numbers with both bacterial inoculants in M and H soils. Numbers of FP changed with root or hyphal lengths, an effect that was related to changes in the numbers of the inoculated bacteria. The results indicate that the hyphosphere-specific A. eutrophus depended on the presence of G. mosseae, but that the nonspecific A. globiformis did not. The mycorrhizal status of soils may selectively influence persistence of bacterial inoculants as well as affecting the numbers of other native bacteria.

Plant genotype, micronutrient fertilization and take-all infection influence bacterial populations in the rhizosphere of wheat

The relationship between micronutrient efficiency of four wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes, tolerance to take-all disease (caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis (Sacc.) Arx and Olivier var. tritici Walker), and bacterial populations in the rhizosphere was tested in soil fertilized differentially with Zn and Mn. Plant growth was reduced by Mn or Zn deficiency and also by take-all. There was an inverse relationship between micronutrient efficiency of wheat genotypes when grown in deficient soils and the length of take-all lesions on roots (efficient genotypes had shorter lesions than inefficient ones). In comparison to the rhizosphere of control plants of genotypes Aroona and C8MM receiving sufficient Mn and Zn, the total numbers of bacterial cfu (colony forming units) were greater in the rhizosphere of Zn-efficient genotype Aroona under Zn deficiency and in Mn-efficient genotype C8MM under Mn deficiency. These effects were not observed in other genotypes. Take-all decreased the number of bacterial cfu in the rhizosphere of fully-fertilized plants but not of those subjected to either Mn or Zn deficiency. In contrast, the Zn deficiency treatment acted synergistically with take-all to increase the number of fluorescent pseudomonads in the rhizosphere. Although numbers of Mn-oxidising and Mn-reducing bacteria were generally low, take-all disease increased the number of Mn reducers in the rhizosphere of Mn-efficient genotypes Aroona and C8MM. Under Mn-deficiency conditions, the number of Mn reducers in the rhizosphere increased in Aroona but not in C8MM wheat. The results suggest that bacterial microflora may play a role in the expression of Mn and Zn efficiency and tolerance to take-all in some wheat genotypes.

Influence of different application rates of nitrogen to soil on rhizosphere bacteria.

The bacterial populations in the rhizosphere of wheat were investigated under different soil nitrogen regimes. Two different levels of nitrogen (250 and 50 mg N per plant) were added as a single application or split in time during growth, and consequently smaller amounts were given each time. The different application methods enabled the study of the bacterial populations in relation to nitrogen concentrations in the roots and in the soil with comparable rates of plant biomass production. When the nitrogen was applied as a single dose at the start of the experiment significantly larger numbers of bacteria (colony forming units) were found in the rhizosphere than in the other treatments. This was correlated with higher nitrogen concentrations in the roots and with higher levels of extractable mineral nitrogen in the soil. In contrast, the numbers of fluorescent pseudomonads were smaller when a high nitrogen rate was applied once. Possible mechanisms for the observed changes in the microbial populations are discussed. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)

Fluctuations in the fluorescent pseudomonad and actinomycete populations of rhizosphere and rhizoplane during the growth of spring wheat

The total bacterial populations, fluorescent pseudomonads, and actinomycetes in the rhizosphere, rhizoplane, and endorhizosphere of two wheat lines (C-R5B and C-R5D) were investigated weekly during plant growth. The total numbers of bacteria (colony-forming units) were counted on a low-nutrient agar medium, while the numbers of fluorescent pseudomonads and actinomycetes were determined by means of selective media. Fluorescent pseudomonads generally constituted less than 0.5% of the total bacterial numbers and the percentage significantly decreased with time in the rhizosphere, rhizoplane, and root-free soil. The percentages of fluorescent pseudomonads were lower in the rhizoplane than in the rhizosphere, and in the endorhizosphere they were barely detectable. The rapid decline of fluorescent pseudomonads frequently observed in survival studies may be explained by the inability of the plant to support this group of bacteria during later development of its rhizosphere. Actinomycetes generally represented no more than 7% of the total bacterial numbers. Actinomycete percentages were highest in the rhizosphere and root-free soil and lowest in the endorhizosphere. Only minor differences were found in total bacterial numbers and in the numbers of fluorescent pseudomonads between the two wheat lines. However, numbers of actinomycetes were significantly different over the whole experiment between wheat line C-R5B and C-R5D in the rhizosphere, rhizoplane, and endorhizosphere. Key words: actinomycetes, bacteria, fluorescent pseudomonads, rhizosphere, sampling time.

Production of root-derived material and associated microbial growth in soil at different nutrient levels

Maize plants were grown for 42 days in a sandy soil at two different mineral nutrient levels, in an atmosphere containing 14CO2. The 14C and total carbon contents of shoots, roots, soil and soil microbial biomass were measured 28, 35 and 42 days after germination. Relative growth rates of shoots and roots decreased after 35 days at the lower nutrient level, but were relatively constant at the higher nutrient level. In the former treatment, 2% of the total 14C fixed was retained as a residue in soil at all harvests while at the higher nutrient level up to 4% was retained after 42 days. Incorporation of 14C into the soil microbial biomass was close to its maximum after 35 days at the lower nutrient level, but continued to increase at the higher level. Generally a good agreement existed between microbial biomass, 14C contents and numbers of fluorescent pseudomonads in the rhizosphere. Numbers of fluorescent pseudomonads in the rhizosphere were maximal after 35 days at the lower nutrient level and continued to increase at the higher nutrient level. The proportions of the residual 14C in soil, incorporated in the soil microbial biomass, were 28% to 41% at the lower nutrient level and 20%6 – 30% at the higher nutrient level. From the lower nutrient soil 18%6 – 52%6 of the residual soil 14C could be extracted with 0.5 N K2SO4, versus 14%6 – 16% from the higher nutrient soil.