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Differential plant growth promotion and nitrogen fixation in two genotypes of maize by several Herbaspirillum inoculants

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Abstract

Aims

Herbaspirillum spp. has been described as bacteria that colonizes not only maize roots but also stems and leaves. This study aimed to access the growth-promoting effect of 21 strains of Herbaspirillum on maize plants. This study is composed by 12 strains of the H. seropedicae, 5 strains of the H. rubrisubalbicans and 4 strains of the H. frisingense.

Methods

Bacterial selection was performed in two phases, consisting on planting the BRS4157 maize variety and hybrid SHS5050 in the greenhouse, with sterile and non-sterile substrate and in the field. After 40 days, the greenhouse plants were harvested and the dry matter accumulation of the aerial part and roots were measured. The best-performing strain was tested in field trials treated with 40 and 80 kg ha−1 of N fertilizer, parallel to the same treatments without inoculation. In this trial, the grain yield was evaluated as well as the contribution of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), using the technique of natural abundance of 15 N.

Results

The results showed that H. seropedicae ZAE94 was the best strain under controlled conditions and its application as a field inoculant increased maize yield up to 34 %, depending on the plant genotype. The BNF quantification revealed that 37 % BNF-derived plant nitrogen in the hybrid SHS5050 inoculated with the H. seropedicae strain ZAE94.

Conclusions

The difference in response to nitrogen as well as to inoculation depends on the selected plant genotype and the bacterial inoculant. H. seropedicae ZAE94 can promote plant growth and contribute biologically with fixed nitrogen in the maize hybrid SHS5050.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by Embrapa n. 02.05.1.06.00.01 and 02.09.01.11.00.06 and INCT/CNPq Proc. no. 573828/2008-3. The authors wish to thank Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) for a postdoctoral scholarship of the first author and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the research grants of the last author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Agronomia, Departamento de Solos, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, km 07, BR 465, CEP 23890-000, Seropédica, Brazil

    Gabriela Cavalcanti Alves

  2. Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda (UniFOA), CEP: 27240-560, Volta Redonda-RJ, Brazil

    Sandy Sampaio Videira

  3. Embrapa Agrobiologia, CEP 23891-000, km 07 BR 465, Seropédica, RJ, Brazil

    Segundo Urquiaga & Veronica Massena Reis

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  1. Gabriela Cavalcanti Alves
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  2. Sandy Sampaio Videira
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  3. Segundo Urquiaga
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  4. Veronica Massena Reis
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Correspondence to Veronica Massena Reis.

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Alves, G.C., Videira, S.S., Urquiaga, S. et al. Differential plant growth promotion and nitrogen fixation in two genotypes of maize by several Herbaspirillum inoculants. Plant Soil 387, 307–321 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2295-2

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