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BELTSVILLE, Md. -
Some farmers’ test Mends
are bacteria ' type called
rhizobia. Agricultural
researchers want to get
better acquainted with the
one-ceQed microbes,' and
introduce them to more
farmers.
In fact, a current surge of
interest in rhizobia by
scientists around the world
has prompted officials of the
U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to
establish a special rhizobia
project at the Beltsville
Agricultural Research
Center in Maryland.
Scientists there win collect
and study strains of rhizobia
and similar “Mends”, and
distribute them to other
USDA and non-USDA labs
where rhizobia in
vestigations are underway.
Just what is so friendly
aboutttese bacteria?
“Rfaizobia have the
natural ability to provide
crops with nitrogen, an
element that plants need for
growth and to make
proteins,” explains USDA
microbiologist Deane F.
Weber who will supervise
the new USDA Rhizobium
Collection and Study Project
at Beltsville. “In their own
way, rhizobia fertilize
certain crops. This happens
without applications of
commercial nitrogen fer
tilizers, which require
enormous amounts of
natural gas to manufacture.
Fanners simply coat, seeds
with rhizobia before planting
to increase harvest^.”
Scientists discovered the
plant-rhizobia dissociation
some 90 years ago. Since
then, they have found the
soybeans, alfalfa, clover and
other members of the '
/protein-rich legume family
of plants could each te
inoculated with a specific
strain of rhizobia to increase
yields. Hie bacteria, work in
small root nodules,; com
< bining nitrogen atoms from
air inthfc soil and hydrogen
atoms from sugars in plant
tissues, to make ammonia,
the basic ingredient of
nitrogen fertilizer, whether
natural or manufactured by
industrial means.
The natural process is
called “biological nitrogen
fixation”. It often leaves
fields more fertile after
harvest than before the
legume crop was planted.
Before widespread use of
artificial nitrogen fertilizer
in developed countries, the
traditional way of adding
nitrogen to the soil for
succeeding crops was to use
legume .crops, such as
soybeans or clover, in crop
rotations.
Since 1912, scientists at
USDA's- Beltsville
Agricultural Reserach
Center have been studying
nitrogen fixation and adding
superior nitrogen-fixing
bacteria to what is now this
country’s largest public
collection of rhizobia and
other (less significant)
nitrogen-fixing microorgan
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isms. Each year, Weber
sends', hundreds of rhizobia
cultures to scientists around
the world. Laboratories in §3
foreign countries have so'
far received rhizobia from
the Beltsville collection.
With financial support for
the Khizobiuxn Project from
USDA and the State
Department’s Agency for
International Development,
Weber £nd a group /
Beltsville colleagues trained
in related fields of “rhizo
biology” will expand their
efforts to collect, charac
terize, test and distribute
strains of rhizobia that are
effective on different types
of legume plants. Of an
estimated 13,000 species of
legumes, only 50 are
domesticated. Of the
possible legume-rhizobia
associations, Weber
estimates that sceintists *
have identified only 10 per
cent that form nodules and
benefit the plant.
The expanded collecting,
and testing, however, “will -
not be a numbers game,”
says Weber. “Nor are we
interested in keeping this
valuable resource as a
museum-' pieces'll:,is
working collection. The
future mil likely bring a high
demand for, bacterial
fixation of nitrogen for
crops,' and foere is great
need for scientists to know
what Rhizobium genes-" 6r
characteristics " 'are
available.”
Current research being
conducted in many of the
world’s agricultural
research labs includes
identifying genes in rhizobia
that control nitrogen fixation
in order to develop bacteria
that work harder and more
efficiently. Scientists are
also trying to stimulate
plants to contribute more
energy to rhizobia so that the
bacteria will fit more
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nitrogen. Other scientists
are attempting; to extend
nitrogen-fixing associations
to nonlegume crops, such as
corn,'- wheat and other
cereals and grasses.
While such “pioneering”
research, .continues, applied,
research devoted -to im
proving rhizobia inoculation
techniques has been largely
ignored, according to Weber.
“When commercial fer
tilizer became cheap in the
late 1950’5,” he says,
“research bn rhizobia
inoculation and the training
of rhizobia 'technicians
sharply declined, and have,
never recovered. Now, just
when the need is-perhaps
greater, there is a troubling
shortage of qualified
Phone: (717) 464-332,1
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scientists' and technicians.
The, USI>A 1 Rhizobium
project should’ help to fill
-tlusvoid.” '
From countries where
knowledge of rhizobia is in
short supply, research labs
will send' technicians to
Beltsville to leam how to
isolate, purify and culture
rhizobiasuited to particular
growing conditions, and how
to make and apply rhizobia
inoculum to seed, hi ad
dition, , Weber and other
members of Beltsville’s Cell
-Culture and Nitrogen
Fixation Laboratory will
provide guidanceand advice
to rhizobia workers in less
developed countries so that
they can start their ovA
rhizobia training programs.
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