increasing plant growth & alkaloids with azo bacteria

[Anodyne]

A porg member just posted about some experiments using Azospirillum brasilense to boost plant growth and alkaloid production. I'd never heard of this and don't know if you can just buy packs of the stuff in Australia, but maybe you can cultivate something like it at home (?).

I found this extremely interesting:

There was a significant increase in plant height (45.80%) root length (58.05%) and alkaloid content (189.45%) of Withania somnifera obtained with double combined application of PGPR AUAS + AUAZ + AUPS + AUBM for 90 days, followed by double combination AUAZ + AUBM + AUPS. Testing for consecutive years (2009 and 2010) showed that bacterial treatments increased growth parameter and alkaloid content compared to the control.

Root inoculation with PGPR promoted significant increase in growth and alkaloid content but the growth response varied between different rhizobacterial strains. However in general the growth response was found to be enhanced when the PGPR strains were applied in combination. This growth response was more effective in terms of an increased plant growth and alkaloid compared to control. Earlier reports had shown that combined inoculation of sorghum with Azospirillum, Azotobacter chrococcum, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus megaterium significantly increased grain yield. The stimulatory effects of this PGPR strains on the yield and growth of these crops were attributed to the N2 fixation ability, plant growth regulator production and phosphate solubilizing capacity (Cakmakci et al., 2007; Kevinvessey, 2003; Karlidag et al., 2007). For Withania somnifera microbial consortium is known to enhance alkaloid content Withaferin-A and yield (H. Gopal et al., 2004).

The conclusion the combination of microbial consortium strains were found to have a great potential for use as bioinoculants to increase production in medicinal plants and other crops.

That's a pretty drastic increase in growth & yield! I found some other papers which observed similar increases using Catharanthus and Coleus species.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Anodyne

[mindperformer]

very interesting, especially the Ajmalicine- enhancement in Catharanthus

...the czech company Symbiom, from which I use the mycorrhiza product "Symbivit" successfully, mentions this bacteria in a research-project with maize (scroll down to Micromaize): http://www.symbiom.cz/en/research_projects

the bacteria Azospirillum brasilense also acts symbiotic with mycorrhiza-fungi like Glomus fasciculatum (AMF):
http://www.bashanfoundation.org/horst/horstchickpea.pdf

[Illustro]

I was researching PGPR for cacti a few years ago, some real interesting stuff! Apparently some PGPR help cacti dissolve sand-, silt-, and lime-stone; creating a hole for them to grow in and making nutrients in the rock available to the plant.

I keep saying it, but you don't need toxic chemicals to grow your plants! I've found that promoting a healthy ecosystem in ya pots makes plants so much easier to look after! I even put fresh thriving garden dirt in my desert cacti mix, the roots just go mental in it - I've never seen anything like it. Some of my Mammillaria's pots even got completely taken over by this dense yellow fungus, their root systems were so extensive after only a year they were nearly impossible to re-pot, and they were by far the most vigorous looking of my Mammillaria's - exploding with growth.

[Anodyne]

This guys slideshow explains it all in a more digestable format: Azotobacter as biofertilizer

Really impressive results everywhere I look into this, have ordered some to try it out. Keep watching, giveaway to follow when it arrives.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Anodyne

[Yeti101]

GOGO Juice http://www.neutrog.com.au/liquid-pro-biotic/ has Azotobacter, Bacillus and Pseudomonas.There are also products like Symbex http://agro-k.ph/products/soil-conditioner-products/symbex/ to stimulate existing bacteria. I have a pelleted bacterial inoculant around here somewhere, can't remember the brand - will have to dig it out and get back to you.

Edit: the pelleted product is Olsen's Green Bio, but the company has since gone bust. The packaging just mentions soil bacillus and fungi, no idea what is actually in it.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Yeti101

[Anodyne]

Hey thanks for the links, those little sample packs are cool.

What you & Illustro say is true, that's it's better to have a range of beneficial organisms and overall healthy soil. But my whole garden is in pots (so not really the ideal environment for trying to cultivate complex ecosystems) and I'm curious to see the change that just a single critter will have. It's Azotobacter I've ordered, I can send you some if you're interested in adding it to your mixtures (although as you say it might be in them already), as I'm going to have heaps more than I can use.

[Yeti101]

I'm going to give either the GOGO juice another try as it seems similar to the mix used in the Withania trials. I know the Symbex works, though I've only seen it used on fruit trees.I'll give the pure Azotobacter a miss for the moment, thanks for the offer though. Trialling one critter is more scientific than chucking on everything at once and I'll be interested to see the results you get.

Hmmm, perhaps I should combine it with some Chitosan http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=35309&p=421181

[cactuscarl]

I've just put all my cacti in the ground so I might order some of that go go juice too or can I get it from places like bunning?

[Yeti101]

I have seen it at Bunnings in the past, I think they only do samples from the Neutrog website.

[simhanada]

I got some at my local bunnings on Friday.

[Anodyne]

Giveaway in progress here.

[cactuscarl]

Hi all I had to bump this topic, I've been using go go juice which apparently has azo and a few other bacteria in it since reading this post. All I can say is WOW! If you don't have go go juice go get some, that shit is amazing and dirt cheap. I've got plants now I've grown through winter that I literally cannot believe. They look like they've been grown under artificial light for 18 hours a day. They are by far the biggest thickest healthiest plants I've ever grown and they were started in winter. Awsome shit :-)

[gtarman]

^^ what kind of plants? Cacti?