Light microscopy observations of tetrazolium-reducing bacteria in the endorhizosphere of maize and other grasses in Brazil.

Roots of field-grown tropical maize, Panicum maximum Jacq. and Digitaria decumbens Stent., and of sorghum and wheat grown in monoxenic culture with the diazotroph Spirillum lipoferum (syn. Azospirillum spp.) were examined for tetrazolium-reducing bacteria following incubation of roots in a malate-phosphate buffer-2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride medium. Bacteria were observed between and in cells of the cortex, in intercellular spaces between the cortex and endodermis, in xylem cells, and in and between pith cells. In maize, colonization of the inner cortex and stele appears to occur in the absence of significant bacterial colonization or collapse of outerlying tissues. Bacteria in the stele remained viable after a 6-h treatment of roots with chloramine-t, indicating that the endodermis was intact. Infection of the inner cortex and stele appears to occur initially in branches, and then to spread longitudinally into main roots. Inter- and intra-cellular infections of the cortex were observed in monoxenic systems. Tetrazolium reduction and prominent crystal formation was not specific for diazotrophic bacteria, but S. lipoferum was isolated from surface-sterilized roots, and S. lipoferum-like organisms were observed in the endorhizosphere. A correlation of inner cortex and stele infections with the presence of branches appears to explain previous observations that excised roots of grasses exhibiting high nitrogenase activity are characteristically branched roots with an intact cortex.