Phosphate Solubilization by <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>and <i>Serratia marcescens</i>Isolated from Tomato Plant Rhizosphere

Plants need phosphorus for many physiological activities in a form of phosphate anions. Three different bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis PH, Serratia marcescens PH1, and Serratia marcescens PH2), recently isolated from tomato plant rhizosphere, have high phosphate solubilization index (SI from 2.8 to 3.2) on Pikovskaya agar medium (which contains calcium phosphate). Moreover, phosphate release from calcium in Pikovskaya broth over 5 days is increasing with cell growth for the different isolates. The most efficient phosphate solubilization case is the mixed culture of the 3 strains (OD475 is almost 1). On the other hand, pH values decreased dramatically with time due to organic acids secretion and the maximum acidification level is recoded for Serratia marcescens PH2 (pH = 1.94). Interestingly, the isolates are resistance to important pesticides (oxamyl, thiophanate methyl, and captan) that are commonly used in the sampling area. This resistance is very favorable and increases the persistence of the phosphate solubilizing bacteria in contaminated soils. The isolates are therefore plant symbionts and growth promoting agents.

Rice(Oryza sativa L.)Breeding among Hassawi Landrace and Egyptian Genotypes for Stem Borer(Chilo agamemnon Bles.)Resistance and Related Quantitative Traits

Rice stem borer(Chilo agamemnon Bles.)is a primary insect pest of rice and is a major limiting factor to rice production.Breeding for insect-resistant crop varieties has been an economic way of integrated pest management(IPM)as it offers a viable and ecologically acceptable approach.This study was aimed to evaluate rice genotypes for their resistance against rice stem borer.Seven parental genotypes with twenty one F1 crosses were evaluated for genotypic variation in field experiments.Analysis of variance revealed significant differences for the studied traits in almost all crosses and parents.In addition,the mean squares of parents versus their crosses were signifi-cant for stem borer resistance and other associated traits.Moreover,both general combining ability(GCA)and specific combining ability(SCA)variances were highly significant for all characters studied in the F1 generation.Based on GCA,4 genotypes(Sakha101,Gz6903-3-4-2-1,Gz9577-4-1-1 and Hassawi)exhibited highly significant negative values for stem borer resistance(–0.53,–1.06,–0.18 and–0.49,respectively)indicating they are the best combiners for stem borer resistance.Based on SCA analysis,nine cross combinations showed highly significant negative effects for stem borer resistance.Similarly,the cross Giza178
Hassawi was the best combination with significantly highest value for early maturity.In addition,seven crosses showed highly significant negative SCA for plant height trait.On the other hand,for panicle length,number of primary branches/panicle,panicle weight and 1000-grain weight,seven,four,eight and six crosses showed highly significant positive SCA,respectively.The result further revealed that the non-additive dominance genetic variance was higher than the additive variance for all evaluated traits indicating that non-additive genetic variances have a role in their inheritance.The broad-sense heritability estimates were high for all the studied traits.The stem borer resistance was significantly correlated with panicle weight and 1000-grain weight,which also showed a highly significant correlation with grain yield/plant.Thus these traits can be effectively employed in a breeding program to confer resistance against stem borer infestation in rice.It was further supported by biplot analysis,which clustered these potentially important traits into two quadrants showing their importance in any future breeding program to control stem borer infestation.This study has contributed valuable information for evaluation of genetic diversity in the local rice germplasm and its utilization in futuristic rice genetic improvement programs.