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Rhizobacteria are not known to colonize the roots of cereal crops, typically only only legumes. You would think that scientists would spend more effort trying t

Rhizobacteria are not known to colonize the roots of cereal crops, typically only only legumes. You would think that scientists would spend more effort trying to create "super" rhizobacteria that can colonize even more aggressively and also fix many times more nitrogen than ordinary ones. I cannot say this one below has independent reviews by well published agroscientists, but it's a step in the right direction: https://soilscapesolutions.com/products/RhizoGenesis-p668356463 https://soilscapesolutions.com/products/RhizoGenesis-p668356... Do a Google search: Methods for Breeding "Super Strains" Chemical Mutagenesis: Scientists expose the rhizobacteria to alkylating agents like Ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) to force point mutations. Physical Radiation: Exposing bacterial cultures to UV light or gamma rays breaks DNA strands, inducing random repair variations. Experimental Evolution: Google it.

pbmonster 13d ago
> You would think that scientists would spend more effort trying to create "super" rhizobacteria that can colonize even more aggressively and also fix many times more nitrogen than ordinary ones I think the problem with that idea is that the rhizobacteria needs energy to break the nitrogen tripple bond. A lot of energy. It gets that energy by getting carbohydrates from the host plant - which in turn are not available to the plant to grow. I'm sure there's plants where not fertilizing with nitrogen at all would make the trade-off worth it, but the vast majority of our optimized crops can't spare double-digit percentage points of their total yield to feed bacteria. You're much better of just using natural gas (or green hydrogen) to fix the nitrogen.
- IAmBroom 13d ago
  Or cover crops. They require a season of no yield, but are widely used after harvest, betting on a long pre-frost growing season.
- DivingForGold 12d ago
  Interesting assumption, not yet proven, likely a great project for a thesis ...
Modified3019 13d ago
There are also “free living” bacteria that are capable of nitrogen fixing (diazotrophic), but are not as strictly root dwelling like Rhizobia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paenibacillus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paenibacillus My company, Wilbur-Ellis, sells “Nutrio N-Tune” (https://www.cdms.net/ldat/ldJI1000.pdf https://www.cdms.net/ldat/ldJI1000.pdf) which contains spores of Paenibacillus Azotofixans. Compared to the more well known legume colonizing Rhizobia bacteria, they can host on a wide variety of plant families. Our Paenibacillus Azotofixans can be applied to soil even before a crop is planted and does not need to be directly inoculate seed (though you can do so). They also don’t seem to have their nitrogen fixing ability suppressed by nitrogen presence, so you can apply both them and fertilizer. I’m told that under ideal conditions, their presence can behave like adding up to 0.5 pounds of nitrogen an acre per day. While they can’t certainly can’t replace fertilizer applications, that is an impressive amount, especially since it’s a constant source rather than whenever a grower can get around to putting something out.
- DivingForGold 12d ago
  Under question is the "survivability" of such bacteria in a range of various soils under various moisture regimes ... and most published research shows that when/if fertilizers are applied, these beneficial organisms tend to diminish.

pbmonster 13d ago

> You would think that scientists would spend more effort trying to create "super" rhizobacteria that can colonize even more aggressively and also fix many times more nitrogen than ordinary ones I think the problem with that idea is that the rhizobacteria needs energy to break the nitrogen tripple bond. A lot of energy. It gets that energy by getting carbohydrates from the host plant - which in turn are not available to the plant to grow. I'm sure there's plants where not fertilizing with nitrogen at all would make the trade-off worth it, but the vast majority of our optimized crops can't spare double-digit percentage points of their total yield to feed bacteria. You're much better of just using natural gas (or green hydrogen) to fix the nitrogen.

IAmBroom 13d ago
Or cover crops. They require a season of no yield, but are widely used after harvest, betting on a long pre-frost growing season.
DivingForGold 12d ago
Interesting assumption, not yet proven, likely a great project for a thesis ...

Modified3019 13d ago

There are also “free living” bacteria that are capable of nitrogen fixing (diazotrophic), but are not as strictly root dwelling like Rhizobia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paenibacillus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paenibacillus My company, Wilbur-Ellis, sells “Nutrio N-Tune” (https://www.cdms.net/ldat/ldJI1000.pdf https://www.cdms.net/ldat/ldJI1000.pdf) which contains spores of Paenibacillus Azotofixans. Compared to the more well known legume colonizing Rhizobia bacteria, they can host on a wide variety of plant families. Our Paenibacillus Azotofixans can be applied to soil even before a crop is planted and does not need to be directly inoculate seed (though you can do so). They also don’t seem to have their nitrogen fixing ability suppressed by nitrogen presence, so you can apply both them and fertilizer. I’m told that under ideal conditions, their presence can behave like adding up to 0.5 pounds of nitrogen an acre per day. While they can’t certainly can’t replace fertilizer applications, that is an impressive amount, especially since it’s a constant source rather than whenever a grower can get around to putting something out.

DivingForGold 12d ago
Under question is the "survivability" of such bacteria in a range of various soils under various moisture regimes ... and most published research shows that when/if fertilizers are applied, these beneficial organisms tend to diminish.