Prof. Nodulation signals in common bean, Phaseolus valgaris, a case of cellular biofactory

Biofertilizer

Abstract

A better method of fertilizing crops is needed to make them mitigate against climate change. There are microbes like rhizobia or lower eukarytotes like Azolla anabaena that induce nitrogen fixation for plants use. In legumes rhizobia can naturally be scaled up to replenish crops, increase yield and revert dangers of food insecurity. In this research, common bean, Phaseolus valgaris was grown in different growth media up to flowering to test how soil nutrition control nodulation signal. Different growth media used were; saw dust, pure sand, saw dust + sand, loam soil, saw dust + loam soil and pure tap water as the control. Plants were sacrificed to count the level of nodulation. Pure sand significantly induced higher number of nodulation than others and no nodulation was noticed in the sawdust and loam soil.  The objective was to test effectiveness of different growth-medium environment in inducing nodulation in common bean. The conclusion is that pure sand induced higher nodulation signal. Therefore, maximum advantage of using beans as a fertility restoring crop is best realized in soils with less nitrogen nutrient source than well-nourished soils. Nodulation in bean can be scaled up as a natural biofactory to produce nitrogenous biofertilizer.