Symbiotic Effectivity of Dual and Tripartite Associations on Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) Cultivars Inoculated With Bradyrhizobium japonicum and AM Fungi

Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) is regarded worldwide as indisputably one of the most important crops for human food and animal feed. The presence of symbiotic bacteria and fungi is essential for soybean breeding, especially in low-input agricultural systems. Research on the cooperation between different microbial symbionts is a key to understanding how the health and productivity of the plant is supported. The symbiotic effectivity of dual and tripartite symbiotic agents was investigated in two pot experiments on different soybean cultivars with special regard to compatibility. In the Selection experiment, two out of sixteen soybean cultivars (Aliz, Emese) were chosen on the basis of their drought tolerance and used in all the other investigations. In the Compatibility experiment, the compatible coupling of symbiotic partners was selected based on the efficiency of single and co-inoculation with two Bradyrhizobium japonicum strains and two commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) products. Significant differences were found in the infectivity and effectivity of the microsymbionts. The rhizobial and AMF inoculation generally improved plant production, photosynthetic efficiency and root activity, but this effect depended on the type of symbiotic assotiation. Despite the low infectivity of AMF, inocula containing fungi were more beneficial than those containing only rhizobia. In the Drought Stress (DS) experiment, co-inoculated and control plants were grown in chernozem soil originating from organic farms. Emese was more resistant to drought stress than Aliz and produced a bigger root system. Under DS, the growth parameters of both microbially inoculated cultivars were better than that of control, proving that even drought tolerant genotypes can strengthen their endurance due to inoculation with AMF and nitrogen fixing bacteria. Root electrical capacitance (CR) showed a highly significant linear correlation with root and shoot dry mass and leaf area. The same root biomass was associated with higher CR in inoculated hosts. As CR method detects the absorptive surface increasing due to inoculation, it may be used to check the efficiency of the microbial treatment

Effect of Rhizobium and AM fungi inoculation on soybean

Symbiotic effectivity of two- and tripartite symbiotic agents was investigated in a pot experiment on three soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) cultivars with special regard to compatibility. Host plants were single and co-inoculated with two Bradyrhizobium japonicum strains and two commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) products. Significant differences were found in infectivity and effectivity of the microsymbionts. While infectivity of AMF inocula was very poor, the benefits of AMF treatments were more expressed than that of the rhizobial ones. In case of commercial AMF inoculants we should also check the effect of the ingredients of the explain medium.Keywords: Bradyrhizobium sp., arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, soybean, host compatibility, biomas

Effects of Different Cultivation Parameters on the Production of Surfactin Variants by a Bacillus subtilis Strain

Surfactins are lipopeptide-type biosurfactants produced mainly by Bacillus species, consisting of a peptide loop of seven amino acids and a hydrophobic fatty acid chain (C12–C16). These molecules have been proven to exhibit various biological activities; thus, their therapeutic and environmental applications are considered. Within the surfactin lipopeptide family, there is a wide spectrum of different homologues and isomers; to date, more than 30 variants have been described. Since the newest members of these lipopeptides were described recently, there is no information that is available on their characteristic features, e.g., the dependence of their production from different cultivation parameters. This study examined the effects of both the different carbon sources and various metal ions on the surfactin production of a selected B. subtilis strain. Among the applied carbon sources, fructose and xylose had the highest impacts on the ratio of the different variants, regarding both the peptide sequences and the lengths of the fatty acids. Furthermore, the application of metal ions Mn2+, Cu2+ and Ni2+ in the media completely changed the surfactin variant compositions of the fermenting broths leading to the appearance of methyl esterified surfactin forms, and resulted in the appearance of novel surfactin variants with fatty acid chains containing no more than 11 carbon atoms

Photoelectrochemistry by Design: Tailoring the Nanoscale Structure of Pt/NiO Composites Leads to Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Performance

Photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution is a promising avenue to store the energy of sunlight in the form of chemical bonds. The recent rapid development of new synthetic approaches enables the nanoscale engineering of semiconductor photoelectrodes, thus tailoring their physicochemical properties toward efficient H₂ formation. In this work, we carried out the parallel optimization of the morphological features of the semiconductor light absorber (NiO) and the cocatalyst (Pt). While nanoporous NiO films were obtained by electrochemical anodization, the monodisperse Pt nanoparticles were synthesized using wet chemical methods. The Pt/NiO nanocomposites were characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, ED, TEM, cyclic voltammetry, photovoltammetry, EIS, etc. The relative enhancement of the photocurrent was demonstrated as a function of the nanoparticle size and loading. For mass-specific surface activity the smallest nanoparticles (2.0 and 4.8 nm) showed the best performance. After deconvoluting the trivial geometrical effects (stemming from the variation of Pt particle size and thus the electroactive surface area), however, the intermediate particle sizes (4.8 and 7.2 nm) were found to be optimal. Under optimized conditions, a 20-fold increase in the photocurrent (and thus the H₂ evolution rates) was observed for the nanostructured Pt/NiO composite, compared to the benchmark nanoparticulate NiO film

Kadmiumstressz detektálására alkalmazható in situ és destruktív mérési módszerek összehasonlító vizsgálata búzán = Comparative Study of in situ and Destructive Measurements for Indication of Cadmium Stress on Wheat

The effects of cadmium (Cd) stress and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) inoculation were investigated in wheat [Triticum aestivum L. cv. TC-33] under controlled conditions. The experiments aimed to reveal what stress responses belong to the different levels of Cd load in the growth medium (0; 1; 2,5 and 5 mg Cd kg-1 substrate). To detect the effect of Cd stress, we compared plant physiological and growth indicators measured with both in situ and destructive methods. Electrical capacitance (CR) was evaluated during the experiments as a method to indicate stress responses through of Cd-induced root system changes. During the growth period, the photosynthetic activity (Fv/Fm), the chlorophyll content index (CCI) of the leaves, and the CR of the root-soil system were monitored in situ. After harvest, the membrane stability index (MSI), the cadmium and phosphorus concentrations of the plants, the root dry mass (RDM), the shoot dry mass (SDM) and the leaf area (LA) were measured. The root colonization of AM fungi was estimated by microscopic examination. Data matrices were evaluated with principal component analysis (PCA) which had been proved to be a good statistical method to the sensitivity between measurement methods. Taking all parameters into account in the PCA, a complete separation was found between the contaminated and non-contaminated variants along the main component PC1. The measured values of the Cd1 treatment sometimes overlapped with that of control plants, but differed from that of the Cd2 and Cd3 doses. The parameters well reflected that AMF inoculation alleviated the stress caused by Cd. PCA shows a visible effect of AM, but the separation between mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants is weaker than that between Cd contaminated and non-treated ones. The Cd stress significantly decreased the Fv/Fm, CCI, CR, SDM, RDM and LA. The CR and growth parameters proved to be the best indicators to characterize the Cd phytotoxicity in the TC-33 wheat cultivar