Nitrogen fixation than INIFAT-3, so the first strain was selected for commercial

use with onions. We had confidence that abundant populations of this strain
would settle in the rhizosphere of the target plants, and also that these plants
would receive N benefits from inoculation.
Using this same analytical process, the strain INIFAT-12 has been selected
for use with tomato and other vegetables, and INIFAT-9 has been chosen for
gramineaceous species and banana. The fact of such dramatic intra-spesific
differences chellenges researchers to study plant-microbial interactions more
closely with practical benefits in mind.
32.1.1.3 Nutrient mobilization and phytohormone production
Phosphorus is known to be an essential element for the growth of plants.
However, the availability of soil phosphorus is widely restricted, especially in the
tropics, by the complexing of this element with soil cations and by its adsorption
on soil particle surfaces. These reactions lead to rather low efficiency in plants
use of phosphorus fertilizer, especially in calcareous soils or in soils high in iron
and aluminium oxides. The efficiency of P fertilizer applied on soil generally
ranges between 10-25% (paul and Clark,1989), so the quantity used by plants is
only a small part of the total P present in the soil, with a large proportion in non
available forms, as discussed in chapter 13.
Many microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes, are
capable of solubilizing this unavailable inorganic P by their production of organic
and inorganic acids, which react with the insoluble forms of P and transform
them into soluble forms. The organisms involved in these processes are often
present in low populations in the soils, existing exist mainly in the rhizosphere of
plants.
We should also remember that associative nitrogen-fixing bacteria and
soil-P solubilizers synthesize significant amounts of phytohormones, various
active subtances that stimulate plant growth reviewed in chapter 14. These
substances are assimilated by plants through their roots and are taken up at
successive stages of growth. Some of these substances stimulate the
development of the roots or of the whole plants; others induce flowering or
reduce floral abortion; still other facilitate the formation and maturation of fruit.
These interactions can support precocious development in the more vigorous
plants and also increments of yield, as seen from the results reported in section
32.3. The effects of phytohormones are hard to disentangle from nutrient
mobilization effects but practically speaking this is not necessary.
32.1.1.4 Biochemical synthesis
Synthesis of these various substances is high in some strains isolated from
tropical soils. Table 32.1 shows the concentrations of active substances that we
found were synthesized by just one commercial strain of A. croococcum isolated
from a Cuban soil (Dibut,2000). This table documents that some tropical
organisms are veritable biochemical factories. Our analysis has also shown

some interesting differences between the synthesizing activity of this highly

active strain, INIFAT-12, in comparison with another strain of azotobacter that
was isolated from a russian soil under temperate climatic conditions
(Fadeiev,1986). The most evident disparity was regarding different cytokinins, a
category of plants-growth regulators discussed in chapter 14. Both strains
produced isopentenil adenosine, isopentinil adenine, and trans zeatin; but the
Cuban strain produced zeatin monophosphate, zeatin ribose, and another,
unidentified cytokinin (Dibut,2000), whereas the Russian strain did not. Instead,
it produced other cytokinins, cis zeatin, and dihydro zeatin. This underscores the
specificity and diversity that one must deal with when working at the microbialplant interface.
Table 32.1
Productions of plant-growth-promoting substances, vitamins, and different amino
acids synthesized by A.chroococcum strain INIFAT-12
Categories
of
Plantsgrowth
regulators
Auxins
(IAA)
Gibberellins
(A3G)
Cytokinins
(kinetin)

Activity
(gL-1)

vitamins

Concentrati
on
(gL-1)

Amino
acids

Concentrati
on
(nmol mL-1)

14,47

Thiamine

5,7

71,05

30,20

Riboflavin

44,0

Aspartic
acid
Serine

32,50

Pyridoxine

18,0

Glycine

127,35

Folic acid

3,5

Valine
Isoleucine
Glutamic
acid
Ornithine
Lysine
Arginine
Threonine
Leucine
Phenylalani
ne
Proline
Total
concentrati
on

38,70
20,05
82,15

61,65

0,83
9,40
4,45
58,80
35,95
65,55
60,60
728,90

31.1.2 Effects of Combination

It has been shown that increases of soluble soil P by the action of solubilizer
organisms can increase the efficiency of N fixation by bacteria (Subba Rao,
1996). Such results indicate that there can be benefical associative effects from

combining such P-solubilizing microorganisms with nitrogen fixers in the soil and
in the roots by producing and applying mixed inoculants (Subba Rao, 1996). Parr
et al. (1994) and Higa (1995) have suggested thet the advantages from applying
benefical microorganisms in soil will be greatest when the inoculum used has
sufficient density and variety of these organisms. However, not enough research
has yet been carried out to know how much density and variety will be optimal.
This will surely very for crop species and soil types.
Benefits has been demonstrated from an association of rhizobium and
azotobacter,with increments in N-fixation efficiency achieved from rhizobium in
the legume to which it isapplied and also an increase in agricultural yield
attributable to the action of active substances synthesized by the Azotobacter
(Peoples and Craswell, 1992). Similarly, the association between Bradyrhizobium
japonicum and A. chroococcum has been demonstrated
to increase the
nodulation and yield of soybeans (Singh and Subba Rao, 1979; Katayama et al.,
1996), as has that of Azospirillum and Rhizobia for different leguminous species
(Burdman et al., 2000). The propensity of modern science to focus on one
organism or one function at a time, considering other organisms and functions as
interferences in efforts to identify and measure true effects, can impede our
understanding of processes that display ecological and symbiotic dynamics.
While combinatory approaches complicate the task of scientists, they are
showing practical results.
32.2 Producing Biofertilizers
Present information indicates compability among the most important N-fixing
bacteria, symbiotics and associatives, and between them and P-solubilizing
bacteria. Making mixed