Rhizospheric rhizobia identification in maize (Zea mays L.) plants

Abstract

Rhizobia have been studied for the symbiosis that they establish with the roots of legumes. However, the colonization and promotion of growth in non-leguminous plants has also been demonstrated. The aim of this work was the biochemical and molecular identification of rhizosphere rhizobia present inthe rhizosphere of two commercial maize cultivars. Cultivableisolates were obtained in yeast-mannitol-agar (YMA) mediumfrom rhizospheric soil and the rhizoplane. The cultural (size,color, mucus, etc.), morphological, and staining (cell shape,response to staining and sporulation) characteristics weredetermined as well as isolate responses to eight biochemicaltests (acid-base production, citrate, oxidase, catalase, H2Sproduction, urease, gelatinase and the oxidative-fermentativeassay) that are valuable for rhizobia identification. The genuswas determined by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. We obtained 81total isolates of which 30.86% showed the cultural, morphological and staining characteristics expected for rhizobia and only 20% of these corresponded to the genus Rhizobium.