Effect of plant growth-promoting bacteria on the growth and fructan production of Agave americana L

ABSTRACT The effect of plant growth-promoting bacteria inoculation on plant growth and the sugar content in Agave americana was assessed. The bacterial strains ACO-34A, ACO-40, and ACO-140, isolated from the A. americana rhizosphere, were selected for this study to evaluate their phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. The three bacterial strains were evaluated via plant inoculation assays, and Azospirillum brasilense Cd served as a control strain. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene showed that strains ACO-34A, ACO-40 and ACO-140 were Rhizobium daejeonense, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Pseudomonas mosselii, respectively. All of the strains were able to synthesize indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), solubilize phosphate, and had nitrogenase activity. Inoculation using the plant growth-promoting bacteria strains had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on plant growth and the sugar content of A. americana, showing that these native plant growth-promoting bacteria are a practical, simple, and efficient alternative to promote the growth of agave plants with proper biological characteristics for agroindustrial and biotechnological use and to increase the sugar content in this agave species.

Symbiotic potential and survival of native rhizobia kept on different carriers

Native rhizobia are ideal for use as commercial legume inoculants. The characteristics of the carrier used to store the inoculants are important for the survival and symbiotic potential of the rhizobia. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of peat (PEAT), perlite sugarcane bagasse (PSB), carboxymethyl cellulose plus starch (CMCS), and yeast extract mannitol supplemented with mannitol (YEMM) on the survival, nodulation potential and N₂ fixation capacity of the native strains Sinorhizobium mexicanum ITTG R7^T and Rhizobium calliandrae LBP2-1^T and of the reference strain Rhizobium etli CFN42^T. A factorial design (4 × 3) with four repetitions was used to determine the symbiotic potential of the rhizobial strains. The survival of the strains was higher for PEAT (46% for strain LBP2-1^T, 167% for strain CFN42^T and 219% for strain ITTG R7^T) than for the other carriers after 240 days, except for CFN42^T kept on CMCS (225%). All the strains kept on the different carriers effectively nodulated common bean, with the lowest number of nodules found (5 nodules) when CFN42^T was kept on CMCS and with the highest number of nodules found (28 nodules) when ITTG R7^T was kept on PSB. The nitrogenase activity was the highest for ITTG R7^T kept on PEAT (4911 μmol C₂H₄ per fresh weight nodule h⁻¹); however, no activity was found when the strains were kept on YEMM. Thus, the survival and symbiotic potential of the rhizobia depended on the carrier used to store them.