Symbiotic effectiveness of a siderophore overproducing mutant of Mesorhizobium ciceri.

Abstract

Mutants of Mesorhizobium ciceri BICC 651 were generated by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine mutagenesis. Siderophore overproducing mutants were identified on Chrome azurol S agar plates. One of them determined as N15 was examined for symbiotic efficiency and compared to its wild type parent i.e. BICC 651 strain under sterile conditions using Leonard jars in growth chamber and also in pots containing nonsterile alluvial field soil. It was observed that the strain N15 produced about 30% higher number of nodules per plant, fixed 25% more nitrogen per gram of nodule and caused more than 30% increased dry weight of plant shoots.