Does the routine heat treatment of sugarcane stem pieces for xylem pathogen control affect the nitrogenase activity of an N2-fixing endophyte in the cane?

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Ortega ◽  
Rosa Rodés ◽  
Enrique de la Fuente ◽  
Loiret Fernández

This paper originates from an address at the 8th International Symposium on Nitrogen Fixation with Non-Legumes, Sydney, NSW, December 2000 In sugarcane propagation the sett pieces are routinely heated at 50˚C before planting to control the xylem pathogen Leifsonia xyli ssp. xyli. To determine whether this treatment also affects the diazotrophic endophyte, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus, found in the intercellular solution of cane parenchyma, cultures of this bacterium were similarly heated. The nitrogenase activity of the heated cultures was monitored by measurement of hydrogen evolution. Activity was destroyed in cultures heated directly at 45 or 50˚C for 2 h. In contrast, when sett pieces were first heated for 2 h at 50˚C, G. diazotrophicus could still be isolated from the intercellular fluid, and these cultures showed considerable nitrogenase activity. There was no difference in leaf nitrogen content of plants grown in nitrogen-poor soil from setts either heated or unheated. It is concluded that the routine heat treatment of sugarcane setts for pathogen control does not totally destroy the nitrogenase activity of the diazotrophic endophyte G. diazotrophicus.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Purwanti Budi Laksono ◽  
Ade Wachjar ◽  
Dan Supijatno

ABSTRACT<br /><br />Mucuna bracteata DC. is a legume cover crop to prevent erosion and to suppress weed growth. M. bracteata can fix N2 from the air with the help of Rhizobium. M. bracteata get benefit from the symbiosis in the form of increased nodule weight, shoot dry weight, and leaf nitrogen content when the Rhizobium population in the soil is optimal. Application of inoculant is one method to increase the Rhizobium population in the soil. This study aimed to analyze the effects of inoculation times and inoculant rates on M. bracteata growth. The research was conducted in Boyolali, Central Jawa, from February to August 2014. The inoculant contained Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Aeromonas punctata. This experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was two inoculation times, i.e at the nursery when the seedlings were 2 weeks old and in the field when the seedlings reached 5 weeks old. The second factor was 5 inoculant rates (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 g per plant). The results showed that inoculation on 5-week-old seedlings was the best result compared to the 2-week-old seedlings. The recommended inoculant rate for Mucuna bracteata was 6.43 g per plant. <br /><br />Keywords: legume cover crop, nitrogenase activity, nodule, nutrient content, runner



1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1251-1254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dane R. Roberts ◽  
Richard W. Zimmerman ◽  
Jeff W. Stringer ◽  
Stanley B. Carpenter

Black locust (Robiniapseudoacacia L.) seedlings grown for 50 days in sand culture with 5 mM NH4NO3-supplemented nutrient solution had 74% lower nitrogen-fixation rates (acetylene reduction) than seedlings grown without nitrogen. Nodule activity was not affected by treatment, and differences in nitrogen fixation between treatments reflected decreased nodulation in seedlings grown with NH4NO3. Relative growth rate was approximately 3 times greater in seedlings supplied with NH4NO3, indicating maximum biomass accumulation cannot be supported by nitrogen fixation alone. Growth was positively correlated with the nitrogen-fixation rate in seedlings grown without nitrogen, but this correlation was not found in NH4NO3-treated seedlings. Leaf nitrogen content was less for seedlings grown in the nitrogen-free sand culture and observations suggested that a nitrogen deficiency in these seedlings restricted their growth.



2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Riggs ◽  
Marisa K. Chelius ◽  
A. Leonardo Iniguez ◽  
Shawn M. Kaeppler ◽  
Eric W. Triplett

This paper originates from an address at the 8th International Symposium on Nitrogen Fixation with Non-Legumes, Sydney, NSW, December 2000 The objective of this work over the last 3 years was to identify maize–endophyte associations with increased plant productivity compared with uninoculated controls. We have used a collection of endophytes isolated by several groups. The experiments were done under field and greenhouse conditions in the presence or absence of added fixed nitrogen (N). Significant yield enhancements of N-fertilized maize were obtained with bacterial endophytes that we have isolated from N-efficient lines of maize (such as Klebsiella pneumoniae 342) or switchgrass (Pantoea agglomerans P101 and P102). Several other strains from other groups were also tested with our best yield enhancements from two Brazilian strains, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus PAl5 andHerbaspirillum seropedicae Z152. Field experiments in Wisconsin were conducted in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and in an additional four states (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska) in 2000, with a minimum of two elite lines of maize at each site, each year. No strains were capable of relieving the N-deficiency symptoms of unfertilized maize in either the field or the greenhouse.



2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 739
Author(s):  
Jiale Jiang ◽  
Jie Zhu ◽  
Xue Wang ◽  
Tao Cheng ◽  
Yongchao Tian ◽  
...  

Real-time and accurate monitoring of nitrogen content in crops is crucial for precision agriculture. Proximal sensing is the most common technique for monitoring crop traits, but it is often influenced by soil background and shadow effects. However, few studies have investigated the classification of different components of crop canopy, and the performance of spectral and textural indices from different components on estimating leaf nitrogen content (LNC) of wheat remains unexplored. This study aims to investigate a new feature extracted from near-ground hyperspectral imaging data to estimate precisely the LNC of wheat. In field experiments conducted over two years, we collected hyperspectral images at different rates of nitrogen and planting densities for several varieties of wheat throughout the growing season. We used traditional methods of classification (one unsupervised and one supervised method), spectral analysis (SA), textural analysis (TA), and integrated spectral and textural analysis (S-TA) to classify the images obtained as those of soil, panicles, sunlit leaves (SL), and shadowed leaves (SHL). The results show that the S-TA can provide a reasonable compromise between accuracy and efficiency (overall accuracy = 97.8%, Kappa coefficient = 0.971, and run time = 14 min), so the comparative results from S-TA were used to generate four target objects: the whole image (WI), all leaves (AL), SL, and SHL. Then, those objects were used to determine the relationships between the LNC and three types of indices: spectral indices (SIs), textural indices (TIs), and spectral and textural indices (STIs). All AL-derived indices achieved more stable relationships with the LNC than the WI-, SL-, and SHL-derived indices, and the AL-derived STI was the best index for estimating the LNC in terms of both calibration (Rc2 = 0.78, relative root mean-squared error (RRMSEc) = 13.5%) and validation (Rv2 = 0.83, RRMSEv = 10.9%). It suggests that extracting the spectral and textural features of all leaves from near-ground hyperspectral images can precisely estimate the LNC of wheat throughout the growing season. The workflow is promising for the LNC estimation of other crops and could be helpful for precision agriculture.



1983 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Rai ◽  
V. Prasad

SUMMARYRhizobium strains adapted to high temperature, and genotypes of green gram, were used to study the symbiotic N2-fixation in a summer season at two moisture levels in calcareous soil. Different interactions between strains and genotypes were observedatthe two moisture levels. At both moisture levels, strain S4 with the green gram genotype S8 showed the greatest grain yield, nitrogenase activity, leghaemoglobin and ethanolsoluble carbohydrate of nodules.





1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Rai

SummaryHigh-temperature-adapted strains RAU 1, RAU 2 and RAU 3 ofAzospirillum brasilenseC 7 were isolated from stepwise transfer to higher temperature (30 to 42 °C). One of the strains (RAU 1) showed more growth, greater nitrogenase and hydrogenase activities at 30 and 42 °C than parental and other temperature-adapted strains. This strain also showed growth and more nitrogenase activity from pH 6·5 to 8·0. Strain RAU 1 showed cross-resistance to penicillin (300/µg/ml) but not to streptomycin, kanamycin, viomycin and polymixin B at 30 and 42 °C. It was demonstrated in field plots in calcareous soil that seed inoculation with RAU 1 enhanced mineral uptake of cheena. Inoculation with RAU 1 led to a significant increase in associative nitrogen fixation, dry weight of roots, grain and straw yield of cheena compared with the uninoculated control with or without applied N, but the effect of seed inoculation with high-temperature-adapted strains was variable with different genotypes of cheena.





1981 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. V. Wood ◽  
R. V. Klucas ◽  
R. C. Shearman

Turfs of 'Park' Kentucky bluegrass reestablished in the greenhouse and inoculated with Klebsiella pneumoniae (W6) showed significantly increased nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction) compared with control turfs. Mean ethylene production rates per pot were 368 nmol h−1 for K. pneumoniae treated turfs, 55 nmol h−1 for heat-killed K. pneumoniae treated turfs, and 44 nmol h−1 for untreated turfs. Calculated lag periods before activity was observed were generally very short (less than 1 h).When 'Park' Kentucky bluegrass was grown from seed on soil-less medium of Turface, a fired aggregate clay, inoculation with K. pneumoniae (W6) resulted in 9 of 11 turfs showing nitrogenase activity (mean ethylene producion rate per pot was 195 nmol h−1). Only 3 of 11 turfs treated with heat-killed K. pneumoniae showed any activity and their mean rate of ethylene production (40 nmol h−1 per pot) was significantly lower than that for turfs treated with K. pneumoniae.Using the 'Park'–Turface soil-less model system it was shown that acetylene reducing activity was (i) root associated, (ii) generally highest at a depth of 1–4 cm below the surface, (iii) enhanced by washing excised roots, and (iv) inhibited by surface sterilization of excised roots. Klebsiella pneumoniae was recovered from Turface and roots showing acetylene reducing activity.



The International Biological Programme served as a focal point for studies on biological nitrogen fixation during the 1960s. The introduction of the acetylene reduction technique for measuring nitrogenase activity in the field led to estimates becoming available of the contribution of lichens, blue-green algae, nodulated non-legumes and bacterial-grass associations, as well as of legumes. Other studies carried out on the physiology and biochemistry of the process led to the eventual purification and characterization of the nitrogenase enzyme. These studies, collectively, provided the springboard for current work, so essential in view of the present energy crisis, on how to increase the use and efficiency of nitrogen-fixing plants, on the metabolic regulation of the nitrogenase enzyme and on the genetics of the nitrogen-fixing process, both in higher plants and in free-living micro-organisms.



Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document