Nitrogen fixing bacteria can contribute to plant growth by the production of auxin. The objectives of this work were to quantify the production of plant growth hormones by different nitrogen-fixing bacteria and to evaluate the effect of this inoculation on growth of wheat and rice seedlings. All strains tested produced indoles during the late logarithmic phase. Increasing the amount of tryptophan in the medium enhanced the production of indoles by the bacteria up to the level of 200 µM. For the Azospirillum strains studied, the nitrogen sources: NH4Cl, (NH4)2SO4, NH4H2PO4 and NH4NO3 stimulated indoles production in low levels. The addition of KNO3, NaNO3 and KNO2 inhibited the production of indole compounds for all bacteria tested as well as the Azospirillum growth. The effects of inoculation were also compared to those caused by increased concentrations of IAA, KNO3 and tryptophan alone. In vitro conditions, the high amounts of indoles produced by the bacteria reduce the length of roots and stems in the presence of tryptophan, especially in the case of Azospirillum strains.
diazotrophic bacteria; indole-3-acetic acid; phytohormones; biological nitrogen fixation
