CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Paraburkholderia tropica MTo-293 was applied as an experimental bio-input to Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) cv. Platense. Different plant-growth systems and inoculation strategies were tested to evaluate P. tropica plant colonization at seedling stage (growth-chamber) using culture-dependent and ?independent techniques. The effect of P. tropica on plant growth was evaluated in growth-chamber and greenhouse (productive stage) by biomass accumulation and fruit production, respectively. P. tropica was able to colonize the surface and inner root and stem of tomato seedlings regardless of the inoculation strategy ?at sowing and/or before transplanting? showing the competitive nature of P. tropica in nonsterile substrate-systems. A Nested PCR was validated to track P. tropica in tomato plants even in the inner stem with endophytic P. tropica populations of less than 102 CFU per gram of fresh weight. Efficient colonization of P. tropica correlated with a positive effect on tomato growth when applied at sowing and/or before transplanting: plant-growth promotion was observed not only at seedling stage but also at productive stages improving crop yield in two different seasons. To our knowledge, this report is the first to track and evaluate the plant-growth?promoting effect of P. tropica MTo-293 in tomato plants grown in nonsterile substrate-systems