Microbes for Legume Improvement ||

Mohammad Saghir Khan l Almas ZaidiJaved MusarratEditors

Microbes for LegumeImprovement

SpringerWienNewYork

EditorsDr. Mohammad Saghir KhanAligarh Muslim UniversityFac. Agricultural SciencesDept. Agricultural Microbiology202002 [email protected]

Prof. Dr. Javed MusarratAligarh Muslim UniversityFac. Agricultural SciencesDept. Agricultural Microbiology202002 [email protected]

Dr. Almas ZaidiAligarh Muslim UniversityFac. Agricultural SciencesDept. Agricultural Microbiology202002 [email protected]

This work is subject to copyright.All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically thoseof translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopyingmachines or similar means, and storage in data banks.

Product Liability: The publisher can give no guarantee for all the information contained inthis book. The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply,even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevantprotective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

# 2010 Springer-Verlag/WienPrinted in Germany

SpringerWienNewYork is a part of Springer Science+Business Mediaspringer.at

Typesetting: SPI, Pondicherry, India

Printed on acid-free and chlorine-free bleached paperSPIN: 12711161

With 23 (partly coloured) Figures

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010931546

ISBN 978-3-211-99752-9 e-ISBN 978-3-211-99753-6DOI 10.1007/978-3-211-99753-6SpringerWienNewYork

Preface

The farmer folks around the world are facing acute problems in providing plants

with required nutrients due to inadequate supply of raw materials, poor storage

quality, indiscriminate uses and unaffordable hike in the costs of synthetic chemical

fertilizers. Beside these factors, the fertility of soil, largely dependent on metabolic

activities of microbes, is deteriorating very fast, which further aggravate the

agronomic problems. Considering such alarming situations, there is an urgent

need to find an alternative so that the chemical based high input modern agricultural

practices could be shifted to an economically viable, ecologically sound, and

sustainable production system. In this regard, heterogeneously distributed microbial

communities play a vital role as organic fertilizers in facilitating uptake of nutrients

by crops. Hence, provides a viable and inexpensive alternative to offset dependence

on chemical fertilizers applied in modern agriculture on large scale by majority of

the progressive farmers around the world for raising the productivity of crops

including legumes. Legumes that play an important role in the traditional diets of

many regions throughout the world can provide a multitude of benefits to both the

soil and other crops grown in combination with them or following them in a rotation.

The ability of legumes to fix atmospheric nitrogen is perhaps the most bodacious

countenance that distinguishes them from other plants. In addition, legumes can

provide a wide range of important soil quality benefits, like, it increases soil organic

matter, improve soil structure and porosity, recycle nutrients, decrease soil pH,

diversify the rhizosphere microbes and break disease build-up. Application of

microbial inoculants very commonly used for legumes, as a component of organic

cultivation is therefore, an exciting area for enhancing legume production and has

also been suggested as an alternative control measure for mitigation of environmen-

tal pollution. Plethora of experiments have been conducted to better understand the

impact of naturally abundant microbes in the improvement of legumes but a meagre

efforts are made to compile them.

Microbes for legume improvement written by experts in the field provide

unique, updated and comprehensive information on how microbial communities

could be exploited and practiced for increasing the productivity of legumes in

varied production systems in different geographical regions of the world. The

book presents the recent developments in the rhizobial taxonomy and discusses

v

the symbiotic features of rhizobia scrutinizing the frontier of legumes and bacteria

promiscuity. Various factors including the exchange of plant and bacterial signaling

molecules, such as, flavonoids and nodulation factor (Nod factor), in the early

stages of symbiosis that influence symbiotic rhizobial interactions under competi-

tive soil environment, is highlighted. The information relative to proteomic control

of legume-rhizobium interaction is explored in a chapter on the role of proteomics

in legume-rhizobium symbiosis. The role of ethylene and bacterial ACC-deaminase

in legume-rhizobium interaction are also broadly covered in this book. The current

developments in the field of soil bacterial biofilms, bacterial functions influencing

biofilm formation, effects of exopolysaccharides, quorum sensing, rhizobial pro-

teins, and motility on bacterial biofilms and development, and application of

biofilmed biofertilizers in legume improvement are discussed separately. The

book further describes as to how the plant growth promoting rhizobacteria either

alone or in association with nitrogen fixing bacteria facilitate the growth and

nutrient uptake by legumes and how such microbial strategies could be exploited

for better productivity of legumes in different agro-ecological regions, are eluci-

dated in greater detail. The interactions/relationships of rhizosphere bacteria with

their hosts and performance of wild-type and genetically manipulated beneficial

bacterial populations are discussed for their efficient utilization in legume produc-

tion under sustainable agriculture systems. Phosphorus and its effect on the envi-

ronment have become hotly contested issues. This book provides a broad and

updated view of the strategic and applied research conducted so far to understand

as to how phosphate solubilizing bacteria either alone or in synergisms with other

symbionts could help to manage phosphorus problems in phosphorus deficient

soils, and ultimately enhance nutrient availability, and concomitantly improve the

yields of legumes. The mycorrhizosphere interactions for legume improvement,

mycorhhizal dependency of legumes, the mechanisms as to how mycorhiza pro-

motes legume growth and consequential impact of mycorrhiza either alone or in

combination with other beneficial microbes on legume improvement in conven-

tional or desertified and/or degraded habitats is described. Given the importance of

legumes in animal and human consumption and their role in maintaining soil

fertility, attention is paid to understand how rhizobia develops resistance to various

stressor molecules and how such tolerant naturally gifted microbes could become

handy in sustaining the productivity of legumes in the stressed soils. The role of

asymbiotic Azosprillum either alone or as mixture with other plant growth promot-

ing rhizobacteria (PGPR) in increasing the productivity of legumes are highlighted.

The current status of symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) in tropical food grain

legumes and strategies adopted for the management of pathogens affecting severely

the productivity of legumes, employing plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are

well explained. This book collectively provides some novel microbial strategies

and proposes alternative solution, which if properly applied could help to boost the

overall performance of legumes while reducing the dependence on synthetic agro-

chemicals. The knowledge and methodologies described in this book offer invalu-

able research tools, which may serve as an important and updated source material.

This edition provides an authoritative overview for individuals interested in legume

vi Preface

research. This book will therefore, be of great interest to the research scientists,

postgraduate students, bioscience professionals, decision makers, and farmers who

intend to use the naturally gifted wonderful microbes for the improvement of

legumes. It would also serve as a valuable resource for agronomists, soil micro-

biologists, soil scientists, biologists, and biotechnologists involved in nutrient

management and legume research.

We are deeply indebted to our well qualified and internationally renowned

colleague authors from different countries for providing the important, authoritative

and cutting-edge scientific information to make this book a reality. All chapters are

well illustrated with appropriately placed tables and figures, and enriched with

extensive and most recent references. The help and support provided by research

scholars working with us in designing and preparing some of the drawings pre-

sented in this book are greatly acknowledged. We are indeed very grateful to our

family members for their untiring and sustained support, who, in their own ways

inspired us and, subconsciously contributed a tremendous amount to the outcome of

this book. We appreciate the great efforts of book publishing team at Springer-

Verlag, Austria, in responding to all our queries very promptly and without delay

during our ongoing academic/scientific relationship. Finally, this book may have

some basic mistakes or printing errors happening accidentally during preparation,

for which we regret in anticipation. If pointed out at any stage, we will certainly try

to correct and improve them in subsequent print/edition. Suggestions and critical

analysis of the contents presented in this book by the readers are most welcome.

Mohammad Saghir Khan

Almas Zaidi

Javed Musarrat

Preface vii

Editors

Mohammad Saghir Khan, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of

Agricultural Microbiology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Dr. Khan

received his MSc from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India and his PhD

(Microbiology) from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technol-

ogy, Pantnagar, India. He has been teaching Microbiology to post-graduate students

for the last 13 years and has research experience of 17 years. In addition to his

teaching, Dr. Khan is engaged in guiding students for their doctoral degree in

Microbiology. He has published over 60 scientific papers including original re-

search articles, review articles, and book chapters in various national and interna-

tional publication media. Dr. Khan has also edited three books published by the

leading publishers. His interest in the various aspects and applications of Microbi-

ology coupled with his classroom and laboratory experience makes him uniquely

qualified to author this book. He is deeply involved in research activities focusing

mainly on rhizobiology, microbiology, environmental microbiology especially

heavy metals–microbes–legume interaction, bioremediation, pesticide–PGPR–

plant interaction, biofertilizers, and rhizo-immunology.

Almas Zaidi received her MSc and PhD (Agricultural Microbiology) from

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India and currently serving as Guest faculty/

Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Aligarh

Muslim University, Aligarh, India. She has been teaching Microbiology at post

graduate level for the last 5 years and has research experience of 13 years. She has

published about 40 research papers and reviews in journals of national and interna-

tional repute. She has also contributed chapters to different books. Dr. Zaidi has

edited three books published by the leading publishers. Her main focus of research

is to address problems related with rhizo-microbiology, microbiology, environmen-

tal microbiology, and biofertilizer technology.

Javed Musarrat, MSc, PhD (Biochemistry), former Chairman of the Department

of Agricultural Microbiology and Ex-Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences,

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India is presently working as a Professor,

DNA Research Chair at the King Saud University, Riyadh. He has been teaching

Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular biology to post-graduate students for

the last 23 years and has research experience of about 25 years. He has contributed

ix

more than 50 national and international scientific publications. Dr. Musarrat has

edited two books published by the leading publishers. He is associated with several

scientific bodies such as DBT, CSIR, UGC, ICAR, UPCST, and CCRUM in various

capacities. His major area of interest includes the molecular microbiology, micro-

bial ecology, and genetic toxicology.

x Editors

Contributors

Munees Ahemad Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricul-

tural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India

Ees Ahmad Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural

Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, UP, India

A.R. Alagawadi College of Agriculture, Bijapur 586101, Karnataka, India

A.I. Albornoz Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exac-

tas, Fısico-Quımicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Rıo Cuarto, Ruta

Nacional N� 36, Km. 601, CP X5804BYA Rıo Cuarto Cordoba, Argentina

Muhammad Arshad Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of

Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan

Rosario Azcon Departamento de Microbiologıa del Suelo y Sistemas Simbioticos,

Estacion Experimental del Zaidın, Prof. Albareda 1, 18008 Granada Spain

Jose-Miguel Barea Departamento de Microbiologıa del Suelo y Sistemas Simbio-

ticos, Estacion Experimental del Zaidın, Prof. Albareda 1, 18008 Granada Spain

Omrane Belhadj Laboratoire de Biochimie et Technobiologie, Faculte des

Sciences de Tunis, Campus Universitaire, El-Manar 2092, Tunisie

Anelise Beneduzi Department of Genetics, Institute of Biosciences, Universidade

Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre Brazil

Brijmohan Singh Bhau Division of Medicinal Aromatic and Economic Plants,

North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR), Jorhat 785 006, Assam,

India

M.A. Bueno Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas,

Fısico-Quımicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Rıo Cuarto, Ruta Nacional

N� 36, Km. 601, CP X5804BYA Rıo Cuarto Cordoba, Argentina

xi

M.S. Dardanelli Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias

Exactas, Fısico-Quımicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Rıo Cuarto, Ruta


Seema Dua Department of Microbiology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University,

Hisar 125 004, India

Sujata Pachoni Dutta Division of Medicinal Aromatic and Economic Plants,


India

M.V. Fumero Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exac-



M.B. Garcia Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas,



Paula Garcıa-Fraile Departamento de Microbiologıa y Genetica. Laboratorio

209. Edificio Departamental de Biologıa. Doctores de la Reina s/n, Universidad

de Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca Espana

Archana Gattupalli Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Center,

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara 390002, Gujarat, India

Adriana Giongo Department of Genetics, Institute of Biosciences, Universidade

Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre Brazil

Walter Giordano Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Universidad Nacional de

Rıo Cuarto, Ruta 36 Km 601, X5804BYA Rıo Cuarto Cordoba Argentina

Adrita Goswami Division of Medicinal Aromatic and Economic Plants, North

East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR), Jorhat 785 006, Assam, India

Mariangela Hungria Embrapa Soja, Caixa Postal 231, 86001-970 Londrina

Parana, Brazil

Arshad Javaid Institute of Mycology and Plant Pathology, University of the

Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore Pakistan

Purnendu Bikash Kanjilal Division of Medicinal Aromatic and Economic Plants,


India

Azeem Khalid Department of Environmental Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture

University, Rawalpindi 46300, Pakistan

Mohammad Saghir Khan Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty

of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar

Pradesh, India

xii Contributors

Aakanksha Khandelwal Department of Microbiology, CCS Haryana Agricultural

University, Hisar 125 004, Haryana, India

Bruno Brito Lisboa Laboratory of Agricultural Chemistry, Fundacao Estadual de

Pesquisa Agropecuaria, Porto Alegre Brazil

Yassine Mabrouk Centre National des Sciences et Technologies Nucleaires,

Route de Tunis - 2020 Sidi Thabet BP 204, 1080 Tunis Cedex Tunisie

TariqMahmood Department of Environmental Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture

University, Rawalpindi 46300, Pakistan

Dominika Maj Department of Genetics and Microbiology, M. Curie-Skłodowska

University, Akademicka 19 st, 20-033 Lublin Poland

Monika Marek-Kozaczuk Department of Genetics and Microbiology, M. Curie-

Skłodowska University, Akademicka 19 st, 20-033 Lublin Poland

Eustoquio Martınez-Molina Departamento de Microbiologıa y Genetica. Labor-

atorio 209. Edificio Departamental de Biologıa. Doctores de la Reina s/n, Univer-

sidad de Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca Espana

Pedro F. Mateos Departamento de Microbiologıa y Genetica. Centro Hispano-

Luso de Investigaciones Agrarias (CIALE), Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca

Spain

D.B. Medeot Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas,



Ieda de C. Mendes Embrapa Cerrados, BR 020, Km 18, Caixa Postal 08223,

73010-970 Planaltina DF, Brazil

DiribaMuleta College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University,

Jimma Ethiopia

Javed Musarrat Al-Jeraisy Chair for DNA Research, College of Science, King

Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Department of Agricultural Micro-

biology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh

202002, India

Y. Okon Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Agricul-

ture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100,

Israel

Mohammad Oves Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricul-

ture, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India

Luciane Maria Pereira Passaglia Department of Genetics, Institute of Bios-

ciences, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre Brazil

Contributors xiii

C.R. Patil Directorate of Weed Science Research, Dharawad Centre, Main Agri-

culture Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharawad 580 005,

Karnataka, India

N.S. Paulucci Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exac-



Alvaro Peix Departamento de Desarrollo Sostenible de Sistemas Agroforestales y

Ganaderos, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologıa, IRNASA-CSIC,

Salamanca Spain

Martha-Helena Ramırez-Bahena Laboratoire de Ecologie Microbienne, Univer-

site Claude Bernard, Lyon France

Fabio B. Reis Jr Embrapa Cerrados, BR 020, Km 18, Caixa Postal 08223, 73010-

970 Planaltina DF, Brazil

Luciana V. Rinaudi Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Universidad Nacional

de Rıo Cuarto, Ruta 36 Km 601, X5804BYA, Rıo Cuarto Cordoba, Argentina

Raul Rivas Departamento de Microbiologıa y Genetica. Laboratorio 209. Edificio

Departamental de Biologıa. Doctores de la Reina s/n, Universidad de Salamanca,

37007 Salamanca Espana

Siddhartha Proteem Saikia Division of Medicinal Aromatic and Economic

Plants, North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR), Jorhat 785 006,

Assam, India

G. Seneviratne Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hantana Road, Kandy Sri Lanka

Sher M. Shahzad Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of

Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan

Luis R. Silva REQUIMTE/Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy,

Porto University, Porto Portugal

Satyavir S. Sindhu Department of Microbiology, CCS Haryana Agricultural

University, Hisar 125 004, Haryana, India

Anna Skorupska Department of Genetics andMicrobiology,M. Curie-Skłodowska


Luciano Kayser Vargas Laboratory of Agricultural Chemistry, Fundacao Esta-

dual de Pesquisa Agropecuaria, Porto Alegre Brazil

Encarna Velazquez Departamento de Microbiologıa y Genetica. Laboratorio 209.

Edificio Departamental de Biologıa. Doctores de la Reina s/n, Universidad de

Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca Espana

M.K. Verma Department of Microbiology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University,

Hisar 125 004, Haryana, India

xiv Contributors

Rosana F. Vieira Embrapa Meio Ambiente, SP-340, Km 127,5, Caixa Postal 69,

13820-000 Jaguariuna Sao Paulo, Brazil

M.L.M.A.W. Weerasekara Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, Faculty of Agricul-

ture, Saga University, Saga Japan

Jerzy Wielbo Department of Genetics and Microbiology, M. Curie-Skłodowska


M.R.Woelke Departamento de Biologıa Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas,



Hamdi H. Zahran Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Beni-

Suef, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt

Almas Zaidi Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural

Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India

J.S. Zavahir Geocycle (SBF), Dandenong South, Victoria 3174, Australia

Contributors xv

Contents

1 Bacteria Involved in Nitrogen-Fixing Legume Symbiosis: Current

Taxonomic Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Encarna Velazquez, Paula Garcıa-Fraile, Martha-Helena Ramırez-Bahena,

Raul Rivas, and Eustoquio Martınez-Molina

2 Enhancing Rhizobium–Legume Symbiosis Using Signaling Factors . . . 27

Anna Skorupska, Jerzy Wielbo, Dominika Maj,

and Monika Marek-Kozaczuk

3 Key Molecules Involved in Beneficial Infection Process in Rhizobia–

Legume Symbiosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Alvaro Peix, Encarna Velazquez, Luis R. Silva, and Pedro F. Mateos

4 Recent Advances in Rhizobium–Legume Interactions: A Proteomic

Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Javed Musarrat, Almas Zaidi, and Mohammad Saghir Khan

5 Role of Ethylene and Bacterial ACC Deaminase in Nodulation

of Legumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Muhammad Arshad, Azeem Khalid, Sher M. Shahzad,

and Tariq Mahmood

6 Microbial Biofilms: How Effective in Rhizobium–Legume

Symbiosis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

G. Seneviratne, M.L.M.A.W. Weerasekara, and J.S. Zavahir

7 Potential of Rhizobia as Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria . . . . . 137

Luciano Kayser Vargas, Bruno Brito Lisboa, Adriana Giongo,

Anelise Beneduzi, and Luciane Maria Pereira Passaglia

xvii

8 Engineering Nodulation Competitiveness of Rhizobial

Bioinoculants in Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Archana Gattupalli

9 Growth Promotion of Legumes by Inoculation

of Rhizosphere Bacteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Satyavir S. Sindhu, Seema Dua, M.K. Verma,

and Aakanksha Khandelwal

10 Mycorrhizosphere Interactions for Legume Improvement . . . . . . . . . . 237

Rosario Azcon and Jose-Miguel Barea

11 Role of Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria in Legume Improvement . . . 273

Almas Zaidi, Munees Ahemad, Mohammad Oves, Ees Ahmad,

and Mohammad Saghir Khan

12 Legume Responses to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculation

in Sustainable Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Diriba Muleta

13 Bacterial Biofilms: Role in Rhizobium–Legume Symbiosis . . . . . . . . . . 325

Luciana V. Rinaudil and Walter Giordano

14 Role of Metal Tolerant Microbes in Legume Improvement . . . . . . . . . 337

Mohammad Oves, Almas Zaidi, and Mohammad Saghir Khan

15 Legumes–Microbes Interactions Under Stressed Environments . . . . 353

Hamdi H. Zahran

16 Role of Azospirillum in the Improvement of Legumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Siddhartha Proteem Saikia, Sujata Pachoni Dutta, Adrita Goswami,

Brijmohan Singh Bhau, and Purnendu Bikash Kanjilal

17 Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Nitrogen Fixation

in Legumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Arshad Javaid

18 Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Food Grain Legumes:

Current Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Rosana F. Vieira, C. Ieda de Mendes, Fabio B. Reis-Junior,

and Mariangela Hungria

xviii Contents

19 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria Improving

the Legume–Rhizobia Symbiosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

D.B. Medeot, N.S. Paulucci, A.I. Albornoz, M.V. Fumero, M.A. Bueno,

M.B. Garcia, M.R. Woelke, Y. Okon, and M.S. Dardanelli

20 The Potential Use of Rhizobium–Legume Symbiosis for Enhancing

Plant Growth and Management of Plant Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Yassine Mabrouk and Omrane Belhadj

21 Microbial Inoculants for Sustainable Legume Production . . . . . . . . . . 515

C.R. Patil and A.R. Alagawadi

Contents xix

Documents

Microbes for Legume Improvement ||