Assessment of a bacterial inoculant formulated with Burkholderia tropica to enhance barley and wheat productivity

GALAR, MARÍA LINA; LOPEZ, ANA CLARA; LUNA, MARIA FLAVIA; CARRASCO, NATALIA; LUNA, MARIA FLAVIA; VIO, SANTIAGO ADOLFO; BERNABEU, PAMELA; VIO, SANTIAGO ADOLFO; GARCIA, SABRINA SOLEDAD; GALAR, MARÍA LINA; GARCIA, SABRINA SOLEDAD; CARRASCO, NATALIA; LOPEZ, ANA CLARA; BERNABEU, PAMELA

Granada

Congreso; 20th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation; 2017

Universidad de Granada - Estación Experimental del Zaidín -Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

It is essential to focus on successful plant-microbe interactions in order to reduce the use of agrochemicals products leading to a sustainable agriculture. The use of inoculants as biofertilizer, biocontrol or phytostimulating agents is a promising way to achieve this goal. It is also clear that it is necessary to improve the quality of the inoculants to obtain an efficient plant colonization to attain an inoculation response. A high quality inoculant has to ensure a physiologically suitable cells and concentration to resist environmental adversities to which are exposed once attached on seeds. In this work, it have been defined practical aspects through the acquisition of data related to root colonization and persistence capacities of the diazotrophic endophyte Burkholderia tropica, necessary to consider its use as Plant growth Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) in agriculture and to enhance barley and wheat crop yieldspecifically. It was defined that: 1.It is possible to formulate an inoculant to maintain bacterial viability for relatively long periods of time.2.B. tropica maintains its viability once applied on seeds 3.It is compatible with a fungicide widely used in wheat crop 4.Both epi- and endophytically colonization is achieved efficiently, with relatively low dose of viable bacteria in the inoculum under control condition. This colonization had to be efficient also under field conditions where inoculated bacteria had to compete with native soil microflora, otherwise, the promoting effect would not have been observed in this assay. 5. It was observed a plant growth promoting effect that resulted in a consistent improvement in performance of crops of great agronomic interest such as barley and wheat. Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF) and phosphate solubilization can be direct mechanisms to promote the growth in these PGPB.Although this enhancement in grain production was not statistically significant, the results show a consistent tendency to a higher yield for the inoculated treatments and represent important contribution for the farmer. Either way, it is necessary to continue with field experiments in successive seasons and other crops in future. The application of a formulated based on B. tropica on wheat seeds proved to be a feasible approach to improve the productivity of these crops. This work also contributes to the knowledge of beneficial plant?microbe interaction in non-legumes, using in particular an endophytic bacterium to enhance barley and wheat production.