title: Azospirillum improves lettuce growth and transplant under saline conditions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies have shown that as a plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Azospirillum inoculation could contribute to the mitigation of the negative effects caused by salt on lettuce growth. Moreover, the use of PGPR to alleviate the effects of transplant in vegetables has also been recognized. However, the scarce data available on the use of Azospirillum to improve lettuce growth before and after transplant under saline conditions prompted us to focus our research on this topic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Early germination and seedling settlement of seeds exposed to 0 and 40 mol m(-3) NaCl were clearly improved by Azospirillum inoculation. At 0 mol m(-3) NaCl, plant establishment, leaf mass and root mass parameters before transplant were significantly higher in inoculated plants than in non-inoculated controls. At harvest, leaf fresh weight, ascorbic acid content and plant survival to transplant were also significantly higher in Azospirillum-inoculated plants grown at 0 mol m(-3) NaCl. In addition to these effects, leaf dry weight, area and chlorophyll content were also increased by Azospirillum inoculation when plants were grown at 40 mol m(-3) NaCl.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Azospirillum-inoculated lettuce seeds yield a higher number of transplanted plants with superior quality than non-inoculated controls grown at 0 or at 40 mol m(-3) NaCl.
authors.affiliation: Unidad Integrada Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-EEA-INTA Balcarce, CC 276-INTA, Balcarce 7620, Argentina.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fasciglione
authors.forename: Elda M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Casanovas
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yommi
authors.forename: Rolando J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sueldo
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Barassi
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D016949:Azospirillum; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D018525:Germination / Q000187:drug effects; D018545:Lactuca / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots; D055049:Salt Tolerance; D012639:Seeds / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D002734:Chlorophyll; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D001205:Ascorbic Acid