Premium
Drought tolerance by lentil rhizobia ( Rhizobium leguminosarum ) from arid and semiarid areas of Pakistan
Author(s) -
Athar
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1046/j.1472-765x.1998.00272.x
Subject(s) - rhizobia , arid , rhizobium leguminosarum , biology , microbial inoculant , rhizobiaceae , agronomy , rhizobium , strain (injury) , semi arid climate , symbiosis , inoculation , horticulture , bacteria , ecology , genetics , anatomy
Ten strains of lentil rhizobia (Rhizobium leguminosarum ) were evaluated for drought tolerance by exposing them to soil moisture potentials of −0·03, −1·0 and −1·5 MPa. Water availability, rhizobial strain and time of exposure to drought had a significant ( P ≤ 0·001) effect on the number of surviving rhizobia g −1 of soil. Highest cell counts were observed at −0·03 MPa, followed by soil maintained at −1·0 and −1·5 MPa. Five strains originating from saline areas showed significantly ( P ≤ 0·05) better survival under low water potential after 35 days. Two strains exhibited greatest survival under low water potential and produced viable cell counts of more than 10 7 rhizobia g −1 of soil. These strains could probably be used successfully as inoculants for lentil production in arid and semi‐arid environments.