Martina Franchini
University of Nottingham, UK
Title: Interactions of nitrogen fixing bacterium Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus with rhizosphere micro-organisms associated with Tomato
Biography
Biography: Martina Franchini
Abstract
Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus (Gd) is a non-nodulating endophytic nitrogen-fixing bacterium isolated from the intercellular spaces of sugarcane. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of this bacterium on Tomato plants in presence and absence of Trichoderma asperellum (T34 commercial strain). Trichoderma spp. is one of the most widely employed biological control agents used against plant pathogens and is an opportunistic avirulent plant symbiont. This fungus is known to antagonize other soil fungi either parasitizing on them or inhibiting their growth due to the production and release of cell wall degrading enzymes. Furthermore, T. asperellum has been shown to synthetize a wide range of other plant protective molecules that can enhance the plant’s response to pathogens. However, the details of its modes of action still remain to be clarified.
To investigate the effect of the combined action of T34 and Gd on crop plants, Tomato Money Maker seeds were treated with Gd and sown into Levington M3 soil in presence and absence of T. asperellum. T34 biocontrol agent from FarGro® was mixed to the soil before sowing.
Four months after sowing, differences in plants’ strength and biomass production were observed: plants grown in presence of both Gd and T34 showed healthier phenotypes and higher leaf and biomass production in comparison to untreated control plants or to plants that were inoculated with Gd only. Flowering and fruiting were also showed to be positively affected in plants