Above- and below-ground responses of Eragrostis and Bouteloua grass seedlings to the plant-growth-promoting bacterium Azospirillium brasilense

Two experiments were performed to determine the effects of inoculation with N 2 fixing bacterium Azospirillum brasilense on forage production and root growth in seedlings of Wilman lovegrass, weeping lovegrass, and sideoats grama. Two sources of inorganic nitrogen (N) were tested: Urea, CO(NH 2) 2 (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of arid environments 2004-10, Vol.59 (1), p.19-26
Main Authors: Arias, Héctor O.Rubio, Wood, M.Karl, Nieto, Carlos Morales, López, Gerardo Reyes, de la Vega, Lourdes
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Above-ground production
ammonium nitrate
arid lands
Azospirillium
Azospirillium brasilense
Azospirillum brasilense
Bouteloua
Bouteloua curtipendula
chemical constituents of plants
crude protein
dry matter accumulation
Eragrostis
Eragrostis curvula
Eragrostis superba
fertilizer application
forage production
grasses
Inorganic nitrogen
Nitrogen fixing bacteria
phosphorus
plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria
root growth
Root phytomass
sandy loam soils
seed inoculation
seedlings
soil chemistry
urea fertilizers
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Summary:Two experiments were performed to determine the effects of inoculation with N 2 fixing bacterium Azospirillum brasilense on forage production and root growth in seedlings of Wilman lovegrass, weeping lovegrass, and sideoats grama. Two sources of inorganic nitrogen (N) were tested: Urea, CO(NH 2) 2 (45%) and ammonium nitrate NH 4NO 3 (33.3%). Crude protein (CP), calcium (Ca) and phosphorous (P) concentrations were determined. In both experiments top dry matter (DM) production was significantly affected for grasses and inoculation but no differences were found for inorganic nitrogen applications. Maximum amount of top DM was obtained with the Wilman lovegrass with 5.70 g, weeping lovegrass reached 2.70 g, and sideoats grama only reached 1.58 g. Inoculated treatments reached 3.37 g while the no-inoculated treatments obtained 2.74 g. A similar trend was also noted for root phytomass. CP, Ca and P concentrations for the first experiment did not show any trend; therefore, they were not determined for the second experiment. Inoculation of grasses with A. brasilense may be a feasible practice for seeding some rangeland where N deficiency is a problem.
ISSN:0140-1963
1095-922X
DOI:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2004.01.008