There is increasing interest in the quality of crops because of the implications concerning health, economic revenue, and food quality. Here we tested if inoculation with a mixture of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and/or two strains of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), in conditions of reduced chemical inputs, affects the quality and yield of strawberry fruits. Fruit quality was measured by concentrations of soluble sugars, various organic acids, and two vitamins (ascorbic and folic acid). Co-inoculation with the AMF and each of the two PGPB resulted in increased flower and fruit production, larger fruit size, and higher concentrations of sugars and ascorbic and folic acid in comparison with fruits of uninoculated plants. These results provide further evidence that rhizospheric microorganisms affect fruit crop quality and show that they do so even under conditions of reduced chemical fertilization and can thus be exploited for sustainable agriculture.

No abstract

The aim of this work was to assess the effects of a combined inoculum of a rhizobacterium and an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus on plant responses to phytoplasma infection, and on phytoplasma multiplication and viability in Chrysanthemum carinatum plants infected by chrysanthemum yellows phytoplasma (CY). Combined inoculation with Glomus mosseae BEG12 and Pseudomonas putida S1Pf1Rif resulted in some resistance to phytoplasma infection (about 30%), delayed symptom expression in nonresistant plants, improved growth of the aerial part of the infected plants (+68AE1%), and altered root morphology (root tip number: +49AE9%; branching degree: +82AE8%). Combined inoculation with the two beneficial microorganisms did not alter CY multiplication and viability. In inoculated and infected plants, phytoplasma morphology was typical of senescent cells. A more active and efficient root system in double-inoculated plants probably mediated the effects of the two rhizospheric microorganisms in the infected plants. The practical application of rhizospheric microorganisms for mitigating phytoplasma damage, following evaluation under field conditions, represents an additional tool for the integrated management of phytoplasmosis.

The localization, viability, and culturability of Pseudomonas fluorescens 92 rkG5 were analyzed on three morphological root zones (root tip + elongation, root hair, and collar) of 3-, 5-, and 7-day-old tomato plants. Qualitative information about the localization and viability was collected by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Quantitative data concerning the distribution, viability, and culturability were obtained through combined dilution plating and flow cytometry. Colonization by P. fluorescens affected root development in a complex way, causing a general increase in the length of the collar and early stimulation of the primary root growth (3rd day), followed by a reduction in length (7th day). The three root zones showed different distribution, organization, and viability of the bacterial cells, but the distribution pattern within each zone did not change with time. Root tips were always devoid of bacteria, whereas with increasing distance from the apex, microcolonies or strings of cells became more and more prominent. Viability was high in the elongation zone, but it declined in the older parts of the roots. The so-called viable but not culturable cells were observed on the root, and their proportion in the distal (root tip + elongation) zone dramatically increased with time. These results suggest the existence of a specific temporal and spatial pattern of root colonization, related to cell viability and culturability, expressed by the plant-beneficial strain P. fluorescens 92 rkG5.

Although Rhizoctonia solani is a cosmopolitan soilborne pathogen, the genus includes isolates with different pathogenicity ranging from high virulence to avirulence. The biocontrol strain Pseudomonas fluorescens P190r and the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus mosseae BEG12 were inoculated alone or in combination in tomato plants infested by the mildly virulent pathogen R. solani #235. Plant growth as well as root morphometric and topological parameters were evaluated. The infection of R. solani was significantly reduced by all the combinations of the beneficial microorganisms. Root systems of R. solaniinfected plants were weakly developed but highly branched with a herring-bone pattern, while those inoculated with the AM fungus, alone or in combination with the bacterial strain, were longer and more developed, and displayed a dichotomous pattern. The interactions among these three microorganisms affected plant growth and root architecture of tomato plants.