Azospirillum improves lettuce growth and transplant under saline conditions.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that as a plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Azospirillum inoculation could contribute to the mitigation of the negative effects caused by salt on lettuce growth. Moreover, the use of PGPR to alleviate the effects of transplant in vegetables has also been recognized. However, the scarce data available on the use of Azospirillum to improve lettuce growth before and after transplant under saline conditions prompted us to focus our research on this topic. RESULTS: Early germination and seedling settlement of seeds exposed to 0 and 40 mol m(-3) NaCl were clearly improved by Azospirillum inoculation. At 0 mol m(-3) NaCl, plant establishment, leaf mass and root mass parameters before transplant were significantly higher in inoculated plants than in non-inoculated controls. At harvest, leaf fresh weight, ascorbic acid content and plant survival to transplant were also significantly higher in Azospirillum-inoculated plants grown at 0 mol m(-3) NaCl. In addition to these effects, leaf dry weight, area and chlorophyll content were also increased by Azospirillum inoculation when plants were grown at 40 mol m(-3) NaCl. CONCLUSION: Azospirillum-inoculated lettuce seeds yield a higher number of transplanted plants with superior quality than non-inoculated controls grown at 0 or at 40 mol m(-3) NaCl.

Changes in cucumber hypocotyl cell wall dynamics caused by Azospirillum brasilense inoculation.

We previously reported that Azospirillum brasilense induced a more elastic cell wall and a higher apoplastic water fraction in both wheat coleoptile and flag leaf. These biophysical characteristics could permit increased growth. Knowledge of the biochemical effects the bacteria could elicit in plant cell walls and how these responses change plant physiology is still scarce. The objective of this work was to analyze whether A. brasilense Sp245 inoculation affected elongation and extensibility of growing cucumber (Cucumis sativus) hypocotyls and ionically bound cell wall peroxidase activities. Hypocotyl tip and basal segments were excised from A. brasilense Sp245-inoculated cucumber seedlings growing in darkness under hydroponic conditions. Elongation, cell wall extensibility, cell wall peroxidase activities against ferulic acid and guaiacol and NADH oxidase activities were analyzed. Azospirillum-inoculated cucumber seedlings grew bigger than non-inoculated ones. Dynamic cell wall differences were detected between inoculated and non-inoculated hypocotyls. They included greater acid-induced cell wall extension and in vivo elongation when incubated in distilled water. Although there was no difference between treatments in either region of the hypocotyl NADH oxidase and ferulic acid peroxidase activities were lower in both regions in inoculated seedlings. These lesser activities could be delaying the stiffening of cell wall in inoculated seedlings. These results showed that the cell wall is a target for A. brasilense growth promotion.

Nitric oxide is involved in the Azospirillum brasilense-induced lateral root formation in tomato.

Azospirillum spp. is a well known plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium. Azospirillum-inoculated plants have shown to display enhanced lateral root and root hair development. These promoting effects have been attributed mainly to the production of hormone-like substances. Nitric oxide (NO) has recently been described to act as a signal molecule in the hormonal cascade leading to root formation. However, data on the possible role of NO in free-living diazotrophs associated to plant roots, is unavailable. In this work, NO production by Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 was detected by electron paramagnetic resonance (6.4 nmol. g-1 of bacteria) and confirmed by the NO-specific fluorescent probe 4,5-diaminofluorescein diacetate (DAF-2 DA). The observed green fluorescence was significantly diminished by the addition of the specific NO scavenger 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (cPTIO). Azospirillum-inoculated and noninoculated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) roots were incubated with DAF-2 DA and examined by epifluorescence microscopy. Azospirillum-inoculated roots displayed higher fluorescence intensity which was located mainly at the vascular tissues and subepidermal cells of roots. The Azospirillum-mediated induction of lateral root formation (LRF) appears to be NO-dependent since it was completely blocked by treatment with cPTIO, whereas the addition of the NO donor sodium nitroprusside partially reverted the inhibitory effect of cPTIO. Overall, the results strongly support the participation of NO in the Azospirillum-promoted LRF in tomato seedlings.