Title : The inoculation with ensifer meliloti sv. rigiduloides improves the growth of robinia pseudoacacia under lead-stress
Abstract:
With the aim to use black locust for phytostabilization of the Zaida abandoned mine tailings in Eastern Morocco, we isolated and characterized its indigenous microsymbionts. Thus, out of 27 bacteria isolated, four strains were selected for the analyses of symbiotic, molecular, phenotypic, as well as plant growth properties under increasing lead-acetate concentrations.
The Phylogenies of rrs, the MLSA, and symbiotic genes analyses showed the affiliation of the strains with Ensifer meliloti sv. rigiduloides and E. kummerowiae sv. meliloti.
Inoculation experiments under metal stress showed that both strains improved plant growth and chlorophyll content. The plant proline content increased as a response mechanism to increasing concentrations of lead.
Our results show that E. meliloti sv. rigiduloides strain RPZ12 improves plant growth under lead stress conditions more than E. kummerowiae sv. meliloti strain RPZ17. This is the first description of symbiovar meliloti in E. kummerowiae.
