engleski

Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of indigenous rhizobia nodulating Alfalfa in Mediterranean region of Croatia

An essential element of agricultural sustainability is the effective management of nitrogen in the environment. This usually involves at least some use of biologically fixed nitrogen because N from this source is used directly by the plants, and therefore is less susceptible to volatilization, denitrification and leaching. Despite that, seed inoculation with Sinorhizobium meliloti a nitrogen-fixing microsymbiont of alfalfa, has not become yet widespread procedure in the production of this important forage crop in Croatia. Selection of the most suitable strain represents one of the main presumptions for successful inoculation due to the fact that rhizobial strains strongly differ in their effectiveness, competitiveness and compatibility. However, the presence of adapted and competitive indigenous alfalfa rhizobia in soil can reduce the inoculation response even with the highly efficient commercial strains. Considering this, composition and characteristics of rhizobial field populations are of great agricultural imporatnce in alfalfa production. The main objective of the present study was to characterize indigenous S. meliloti strains isolated from different soil types in Mediterranean region of Croatia

symbiotic nitrogen fixation ; indigenous Sinorhizobium meliloti ; PCR fingerprinting methods ; phenotypic characterization

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