Research on wheat root diazotrophic bacteria has demonstrated the need to associate effective bacteria to promising genotypes, which would benefit from this association. A field experiment was carried out in Mococa County, State of São Paulo, Brazil, using a split-plot design. Treatments consisted of 3 wheat genotypes (IAC-24, ITD-19 and IAC-355) under 3 nitrogen doses (0, 60 and 120 kg ha-1). The occurrence of diazotrophic bacteria was evaluated in three growth media: NFb, JNFb and LGI-P, using surface-sterilized roots. Only in genotype IAC-355 there was a positive linear relationship between the quantity of diazotrophic bacteria with the increasing N doses, though the quantity of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria for this genotype in all three culture media was the lowest one. Eight isolates were obtained from NFb medium, and they presented characteristics of Azospirillum. Twelve isolates were obtainded from the JNFb medium and they had characteristics of Herbaspirillum. These strains were tested in vitro using the genotypes from which they had originally been isolated: ITD-19 and IAC-24. All isolates caused an increase in the ITD-19 root length compared to the control, but only one isolate from JNFb medium led to a significant increase in shoot N accumulation. The plant-bacteria interaction demonstrated that it is possible to obtain benefits from this association.
diazotrophic endophytic; plant growth promotion; Triticum; homologue isolates; nitrogen fertilization; root colonization
