No abstract

Usage of Bacillus and Azospirillum as new eco-friendly microbial consortium inoculants is a strategy to increase plant growth and crop yield by improving nutrient availability in agricultural systems. In this study, we designed a multispecies inoculum containing B. thuringiensis (strain B116), B. subtillis (strain B2084) and Azospirillum brasilense (strains A1626 and A2142) to investigate their individual or co-inoculated ability to solubilize and mineralize phosphate, produce indole acetic acid (IAA) and their effect on maize growth promotion in hydroponics and in a non-sterile soil. All strains showed signi cant IAA production, P mineralization (sodium phytate) and Ca-P, Fe-P (tricalcium phosphate and iron phosphate, respectively) solubilization. In hydroponics, co-inoculation with A1626 x A2142, B2084 x A2142, B2084 x A1626 resulted in higher root total length, total surface area, and surface area of roots with diameter between 0 and 1 mm than other treatments with single inoculant, except B2084. In a greenhouse experiment, maize inoculated with the two Azospirillum strains exhibited enhanced shoot dry weight, shoot P and K content, root dry weight, root N and K content and acid and alkaline phosphatase activities than the other treatments. There was a signi cant correlation between soil P and P shoot, alkaline phosphatase and P shoot and between acid phosphatase and root dry weight. It may be concluded that co-inoculations are most effective than single inoculants strains, mainly between two selected Azospirillum strains. Thus, they could have synergistic interactions during maize growth, and be useful in the formulation of inoculants to improve the cropping systems sustainable.* Means followed by the same letter did not differ signi cantly by LSD test (p < 0.05).** Sample identi cation are according to Table 1.

Microorganisms in the soil and rhizosphere can release part of the total phosphorus in the soil through solubilization, mineralization, and an increase of the root absorption surface. The ability of phosphate solubilizing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi to promote higher yield and profitability in co-inoculated soybean was investigated. For this purpose, field and greenhouse experiments were conducted in the years 2020 and 2021 in Brazil. In the field, the first factor was composed of microorganism application on soybean (simple inoculation with Bradyrhizobium; co-inoculation with Bacillus strains; co-inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhiza), and the second factor consisted of the application or not of phosphate fertilizer (0 and 100 kg ha -1 of P 2 O 5 ). In the greenhouse, treatments of the first factor were maintained with 50 % of the phosphate fertilization and one treatment added (standard inoculation with 100 % of the fertilization). Plant growth, roots, nodules, leaf nutrition, yield, and profitability were evaluated. In 2020, co-inoculation increased plant height, the number of pods, grains, and profitability index. The co-inoculation with Bacillus strains and arbuscular mycorrhiza promoted yield increase only associated with phosphate fertilization, by 813 and 761 kg ha -1 compared to standard inoculation, respectively. In 2021, there were increases for pods, grains, yield, gross profit, net income, and profitability index. Co-inoculation with Bacillus strains and arbuscular mycorrhiza promoted increased soybean yield and profitability, confirming itself as a sustainable technology for Brazilian soybean fields.

Organo-mineral fertilizers supplemented with biological additives are an alternative to chemical fertilizers. In this study, thermoresistant microorganisms from composting mass were isolated by two-step procedures. First, samples taken at different time points and temperatures (33 days at 52 ºC, 60 days at 63 ºC, and over 365 days at 26 ºC) were pre-incubated at 80 oC for 30 minutes. Second, the microbial selection by in vitro culture-based methods and heat shock at 60 oC and 100 oC for 2h and 4h. Forty-one isolates were able to grow at 60 °C for 4h; twenty-seven at 100 °C for 2h, and two at 100 °C for 4h. The molecular identification by partial sequencing of the 16S ribosomal gene using universal primers revealed that thirty-five isolates were from eight Bacillus species, one Brevibacillus borstelensis, three Streptomyces thermogriseus, and two fungi (Thermomyces lanuginosus and T. dupontii). Data from amylase, phytase, and cellulase activity assays and the enzymatic index (EI) showed that 38 of 41 thermo-resistant isolates produce at least one enzyme. For amylase activity, the highest EI value was observed in Bacillus licheniformis (isolate 21C2, EI= 4.11), followed by Brevibacillus borstelensis (isolate 6C2, EI= 3.66), Bacillus cereus (isolate 18C2, EI= 3.52), and Bacillus paralicheniformis (isolate 20C2, EI= 3.34). For phytase, the highest EI values were observed for Bacillus cereus (isolate 18C2, EI= 2.30) and Bacillus licheniformis (isolate 3C1, EI= 2.15). Concerning cellulose production, B. altitudinis (isolate 6C1) was the most efficient (EI= 6.40), followed by three Bacillus subtilis (isolates 9C1, 16C2, and 19C2) with EI values of 5.66, 5.84, and 5.88, respectively, and one B. pumilus (isolate 27C2, EI= 5.78). The selected microorganisms are potentially useful as a biological additive in organo-mineral fertilizers and other biotechnological processes.