Effects of water availability on biological N fixation in plants

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is an important pathway for introducing N into

the soil, allowing for proper crop growth and development. Symbiotic N fixation
through associations between Rhizobium and legumes provide the most
important source of biologically fixed N for crops. Grain legumes can fix 15–210 kg
N ha−1.

The C4 grasses and arid environment trees are known to be highly water efficient,
due to their associated bacteria. For example, the symbiosis relation between
Frankia (bacteria) and Casuarina sp. (trees) illustrates the critical role these BNF
bacteria play for plant growth in water stress environments, by surviving and
sharing effective symbiosis even under high temperatures and low-soil moisture
levels. Rhizobium–legume symbiosis are the most studied interactions among N
fixing systems, as they can incorporate appreciable amount of N into the soil. A
drought tolerant cultivar of Phaseolus vulgaris illustrated that plant dry weight
was not affected at 30%–50% field capacity, albeit the number and weight of root
nodules, and N fixation was reduced. Therefore, for effective symbiosis to occur,
the corresponding bacteria should have the ability to survive under hot and arid
conditions. Prosopis rhizobia is one such Rhizobia which showed effective
symbiosis under desert and arid soil conditions. Two mutant strains of Rhizobium
meliloti were effective in symbiosis with alfalfa under drought stress and showed
improved nodulation and N fixation.

Arbuscular Mycorrhiza is another important group of microbes involved in N

fixation. These are obligate biotrophs which improve nutrient capture and
drought tolerance. The use of Mycorrhiza fungi in conjunction with Rhizobium in
legumes has improved N uptake and transfer between crops. Intercropping
soybean (Glycine max) and maize (Zea mays) not only improved the efficiency of
N fixation but also encouraged N transfer from soybean to maize, which
ultimately increased the yield of both soybean and maize crops. Under dry
conditions, use of Mycorrhiza has alleviated the effect of water stress. In arid
environments, Mycorrhiza fungi inoculation and the resulting symbiosis reduced
the severity of the drought stress on Acacia and Leucaena by increasing N fixation.
Mycorrhiza also play a critical role in the cycling of N. The fungi acquire inorganic
forms of N from outside the root and incorporates arginine by trans locating from
extraradical to intraradical mycelium, where arginine will be broken down to urea
and then into ammonia, which is transferred to the host plant roots, where
ammonia will be incorporated into amino acids and finally as plant protein. The
use of beneficial microbe combinations has allowed for considerable N fixation
under unfavorable conditions. The interaction of Mycorrhiza, plant growth
promoting rhizobacteria, and Rhizobium resulted in the improvement of plant
growth, nutrient uptake, and N fixation in legumes during drought stress. Thus,
BNF is greatly helpful in reducing N fertilizer cost by reducing N fertilizer usage.