By addition of phenol at concentrations between 0.1 and 10 mmol·l−1, nitrogenase activity (acetylene reduction assay) is enhanced by a factor of 5 in the rhizosphere of Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet) incubated under 20% O2. No increase is found under microaerobic conditions. This enhancement effect is also noticed in a soil amended with a sucrose concentration of 20 mmol·l−1. Under those conditions, however, an enhancement is found under aerobic as well as under microaerobic conditions and a further increase of the phenol added reduces the activity to almost zero. A 4‐fold increase of N2‐fixation by phenol addition under aerobic conditions was determined with homogenous sediments from a fresh water lake while anaerobic N2‐fixation was already slightly reduced by the same concentration added. Excised roots of Sorghum nutans CSH 5 failed to show any phenol enhancement of nitrogenase activity. After a preincubation of 6h, inhibition of nitrogenase activity under air by addition of 1 mmol·l−1 was much more pronounced than under microaerobic conditions.

A genotype effect on associative (rhizosphere) N2‐fixation was observed with two cultivars of Sorghum bicolor (nutans) with a maximum rate of 8 μmol C2H4 · h−1 · plant−1 in one genotype compared to 0.9 μmol in the other. Characteristics of the high fixing genotype were a reduced transpiration rate, a lower number of stomata and increased root exudate production per gram root dry weight with higher concentration of dicarboxylic acids. The bacterial rhizosphere composition revealed a three times higher number of N2‐fixing bacteria, a tenfold reduction of actinomycetes and a threefold reduction of Arthrobacter associated with the high fixing cultivar compared to the low fixing genotype. From these and other plant rhizospheres two new nitrogen fixing bacteria, Pseudomonas stutzeri and Erwinia herbicola, were characterized. With the N2‐fixing bacteria Azospirillum brasilense and Klebsiella pneumoniae an enhancement of specific nitrogenase activity by aromatic compounds, for example phenolics, the herbicide alachlor and the insecticide carbofuran was demonstrated. An oscillating nitrogenase activity in Azospirillum brasilense under microaerobic conditions was found, resulting from an encystation and deencystation under those conditions. Experiments with wheat roots demonstrated that reduced oxygen tensions, essential for a maximum rhizosphere N2‐fixation, reduced root growth significantly and altered the N‐metabolism of the roots.