Soil Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Marzieh Mazraeh; Roya Zalaghi; Naiemeh Enayatizamir
Abstract
Introduction Growth-stimulating bacteria are now proposed as an alternative to chemical fertilizers in order to increase soil fertility in sustainable agriculture. Biofertilizers are also expressed as microbial inoculants that are capable of removing soil nutrients from an inaccessible state through ...
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Introduction Growth-stimulating bacteria are now proposed as an alternative to chemical fertilizers in order to increase soil fertility in sustainable agriculture. Biofertilizers are also expressed as microbial inoculants that are capable of removing soil nutrients from an inaccessible state through biological processes. Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria (PGPRs) refer to a broad group of susceptible bacteria, which grow alongside the plant as the host and stimulate plant growth. On the other hand, these microorganisms in the soil are able to stimulate and improve biological indicators, such as microbial carbon biomass, microbial respiration, and microbial yield, and may also affect different forms of carbon in the soil. Among the PGPRs, it is possible to refer to Enterobacter and Pseudomonas. Pseudomonas are bacteria present in all agro-soils and have different growth-promoting characteristics. Enterobacteriaceae family is a large group of bacteria that are naturally present in the water, soil, and materials that are corrupted and contaminated. To evaluate the biological changes of soil due to the activity of PGPRs, biochemical parameters (microbial respiration and microbial carbon biomass) are usually monitored in the plant's rhizosphere. The rhizobox is one of the tools used to study the changes in the rhizosphere, by limiting the roots in a certain volume of soil and facilitating the sampling of rhizosphere soil. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of plant growth-promoting bacteria on some biological and chemical properties of the soil under Rhizobox conditions. Materials and Methods In order to study some of the chemical and biological properties of the soil cultivated with maize and wheat and inoculated with growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), a completely randomized design, including two maize and wheat plants and three levels of inoculation, including non-inoculated, Pseudomonas sp. strain Rhizo_9 and Enterobacter cloacae strain Rhizo_33 in three replications in Rhizobox pots was done in greenhouse conditions. At the end of the period, the plants were harvested and the dry weight of roots and shoots was measured. Also, 3 soil samples were sampled from each rhizobox, as follows: rhizosphere 1 (soil clinging to the root), rhizosphere 2 (1 cm soil clinging to mesh), and non-rhizosphere (soil far from the mesh). Some soil characteristics, including basal respiration, substrate induced respiration, metabolic quotient, and soil carbon components (soil organic carbon, microbial carbon biomass, cold-water-soluble carbon, hot-water-soluble carbon, and permanganate oxidable carbon) were measured. Results and Discussion Results showed that the amount of each carbon component, as well as basal and substrate-induced respiration in treatments with bacteria, was higher than non-bacterial treatments and these biological properties in the soil cultivated with maize were higher than those under wheat cultivation. According to the results, the highest amounts of the basal respiration (0.31 mg CO2 g-1 day-1), the substrate-induced respiration (1.65 mg CO2 g-1 day-1), the permanganate oxidable carbon (213.1 mg kg-1), and the microbial carbon biomass (17.53 mg 100g-1) were related to rhizosphere 1 soil of maize inoculated with Pseudomonas. The highest amounts of the organic carbon (0.82%), the cold-water-soluble carbon (1727 mg kg -1), and the hot-water-soluble carbon (955 mg kg-1) were related to rhizosphere 1 soil in maize inoculated with Enterobacter. This could show the differences between two bacteria in affecting on different forms of carbon in the soil. Conclusion The results of this study showed that maize had a higher effect on carbon forms of soil that could be because of higher root biomass and probably higher root secretions of maize in comparison to wheat. Also, by increasing the distance from plant roots (from rhizosphere1 soil to bulk soil), different forms of carbon decreased that showed the impact of rhizosphere (plant roots and rhizospheric microorganisms) on physicochemical and biological characteristics.Inoculation of PGPR bacteria caused an increase in soil respiration and soil different carbon forms but the two bacteria were different in increasing various forms of soil carbon that seems to be related to different secretions or different effects of bacteria or plant-bacteria associate on soil carbon forms. Although inoculation of Pseudomonas resulted in a higher amount of microbial carbon biomass, inoculation of Enterobacter resulted in higher amounts of cold-water-soluble carbon, hot-water-soluble carbon, and soil organic carbon. Also, the application of two PGPR bacteria (Enterobacter was more effective) increased root and shoot dry weights of maize and wheat compared to non-bacterial treatments.
