TITLE:
Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Elite Indigenous Rhizobia Nodulating Phaseolus bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
AUTHORS:
Yusuph Namkeleja, Kelvin Mtei, Patrick A. Ndakidemi
KEYWORDS:
Biological Nitrogen Fixation, Inoculums, Rhizobium-Legume Symbiosis, Phaseolus Bean
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.14,
September
30,
2016
ABSTRACT: Nowadays application of
biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) through rhizobia inoculums is highly
promoted as a solution to solve the problem of poor soil fertility in areas
where legumes are cultivated. This is due to the fact that, rhizobia enhance
nitrogen fixation, induce disease resistance, reduce heavy metal in the soil,
facilitate bioavailabity of iron in soil and is environmental friendly. To get
rhizobia strains which are suitable for inoculants production, isolation and
molecular characterization of elite rhizobia are highly needed. Molecular characterization acts as a spark plug for discovery of many microbes
including Rhizobia. Multi Locus Sequence Analysis (MLSA), 16S rRNA gene
sequence analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization and SDS-PAGE analysis of the
whole-cell proteins are the molecular techniques mostly used in characterizing
rhizobia. But before deciding to use or not to use rhizobia inoculants in
certain areas, knowing the population size of indigenous rhizobia found in that
area is very important, because this is a major factor which determines inoculums responses as well gives clues on which
areas need or do not need inoculation. The Most Probable Number (MPN) method is
mostly used in enumerating rhizobia population of the soil. Given that, in most of the developing countries, including
Tanzania, Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF) technology is not fully
flourished; more efforts in isolation, molecular characterization of elite
rhizobia and estimation of indigenous rhizobia population in various areas are
required.