Isolation and Characterization of Nitrogen Fixing Rhizobia from Cultivated and Uncultivated Soils of Northern Tanzania
Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52915#.VKyaksnQrzE Author(s) Zephania Simon , Kelvin Mtei , Amare Gessesse , Patrick A. Ndakidemi * Affiliation(s) School of Life Sciences and Bioengineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania . ABSTRACT Soil bacteria1 called rhizobia are gram-negative capable to colonize the soil immediately surrounding roots under the influence of the plant “rhizosphere” and reduce atmospheric nitrogen into the form available to plants through nitrogen fixation process. Nitrogen is the most limiting and supplied nutrient to most plants, and the determinant of plant growth. Legumes differ with most plants because they have access to nitrogen from both mineral and symbiotic sources. Small-scale farmers who are the major legume producers in Africa rarely apply fertilizers during legume production. Hence, the cro...