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Nitrogen fixation in the rhizosphere of rice

Abstract

THE discovery of nitrogen-fixing activity associated with the rhizosphere of non-leguminous plants such as tropical grasses, rice and maize has provoked considerable interest1–9. Discrepancies in the measurements of this nitrogen-fixing activity by the acetylene reduction assay in different conditions prompted us to develop a modified assay system. We report here the use of this assay to find significant differences in the rates of acetylene reduction associated with the rhizosphere of 50 different strains of rice. This suggests that the rice plant genotype influences the association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its rhizosphere.

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HIROTA, Y., FUJII, T., SANO, Y. et al. Nitrogen fixation in the rhizosphere of rice. Nature 276, 416–417 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/276416a0

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