Since the domestication of soybean (Glycine max) about 4,500 years ago, thousands of local cultivars have been developed around the world. In Japan, black soybeans grown in the mountainous region of central Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures, called the Tamba region, are well known for large seeds and palatability. The yields of black soybean in the Tamba region of Kyoto have decreased during the past...

The purpose of this study was to determine the metabolic activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens DF57 in the barley rhizosphere and to assess whether sufficient phosphate was available to the bacterium. Hence, two DF57 reporter strains carrying chromosomal luxAB gene fusions were introduced into the rhizosphere. Strain DF57-40E7 expressed luxAB constitutively, making bioluminescence dependent upon ...

The bacterial rhizosphere communities of three host plants of the pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae, field-grown strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.), oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.), and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), were analyzed. We aimed to determine the degree to which the rhizosphere effect is plant dependent and whether this effect would be increased by growing the same crops in t...

Plant growth can be affected by soil bacteria. In turn, plants are known to influence soil bacteria through rhizodeposits and changes in abiotic conditions. We aimed to quantify the phylotype richness and relative abundance of rhizosphere bacteria that are actually influenced in a plant species-specific manner and to determine the role of the disproportionately large diversity of low-abundance ...

Micro–N pool dilution was used to quantify rates of gross N mineralization, consumption, and nitrification in bulk soil and in soil within 2 mm of root sections of Avena barbata (slender wild oats), an annual grass common to California oak woodland-savannas. Rates of gross N mineralization in rhizosphere soil (9.2 mg N kgd) were about ten times higher than in bulk soil (1.0 mg N kgd). Total bac...

Increased Al mobilization and Ca and Mg leaching have been linked to nutritional imbalances in sugar maple across the northeastern US and Canada. The susceptibility of sugar maple fine roots to Al stress is poorly understood, in part because roots respond to Al stress by altering the chemistry of the rhizosphere. AlCl3 was applied to plots of sugar maple at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest...

To study the effect of plant species on the abundance and diversity of bacterial antagonists, the abundance, the phenotypic diversity, and the genotypic diversity of rhizobacteria isolated from potato, oilseed rape, and strawberry and from bulk soil which showed antagonistic activity towards the soilborne pathogen Verticillium dahliae Kleb. were analyzed. Rhizosphere and soil samples were taken...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In China, excessive fertilization has resulted in phosphorus (P) accumulation in most greenhouse soils. Intercropping can improve the efficiency of nutrient utilization in crop production. In this study, pot experiments were performed to investigate the effects of intercropping with potato onion (Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum G. Don) on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seed...