Rhizosphere Microbiology

The root system of higher plants is associated not only with soil
environment composed of inorganic and organic matter, but also with a
vast community of metabolically active microorganisms. As living plants
create a unique habitat around the roots, the microbial population on and
around the roots is considerably higher than that of root free soil
environment and the differences may be both quantitative and qualitative.

1. Rhizosphere: It is the zone/region of soil immediately surrounding the

plant roots together with root surfaces, or it is the region where soil and
plant roots make contact, or it is the soil region subjected to influence of
plant roots and characterized by increased microbial.

2. Rhizoplane: Root surface along with the closely adhering soil particles is
termed as rhizoplane.

Historical Background:

Term "Rhizosphere" was introduced for the first time by the German
scientist Hiltner (1904) to denote that region of soil which is subjected to
the influence of plant roots. The concept of "Rhizosphere Phenomenon"
which shows the mutual interaction of roots and microorganisms was came
into existence with the work of Starkey et al (1929), Clark (1939) and
Rauath and Katznelson (1957).
N. V. Krassinikov (1934) found that free living nitrogen-fixing bacteria,
Azotobacter were unable to grow in the wheat rhizosphere.

Starkey (1938) examined the rhizosphere region of some plant species and
demonstrated the effect of root exudates on the predominance of bacterial
population in particular and other soil microorganisms in general in the
rhizosphere region. Thus, he put forth the concept of "Rhizosphere effect /
phenomenon" for the first time.

F E Clark (1949) introduced / coined the term "Rhizoplane” to denote the

root surface together with the closely adhering soil particles.

R. I. Perotti (1925) suggested the boundaries of the rhizosphere region and

showed that it was bounded on one side by the general soil region (called
as Edaphosphere) and on the other side by the root tissues (called
Histosphere).

G. Graf and S. Poschenrieder (1930) divided the rhizosphere region into

two general areas i.e. outer rhizosphere and inner rhizosphere for the
purpose of describing the same site of microbial action.

H. Katznelson (1946) suggested the R:S ratio i.e. the ratio between the
microbial population in the rhizosphere (R) and in the soil (S) to find out the
degree or extent of plant roots effect on soil microorganisms. R: S ratio
gives a good picture of the relative stimulation of the microorganisms in the
rhizosphere of different plant species.
R: S ratio is defined as the ratio of microbial population per unit weight of
rhizosphere soil (R), to the microbial population per unit weight of the
adjacent non-rhizosphere soil (S)

A. G. Lochhead and H. Katznelson (1940) examined in detail the qualitative

differences between the microflora of the rhizosphere and microflora of the
non-rhizosphere region and reported that gram-negative, rod shaped and
non-spore forming bacteria are abundant in the rhizosphere than in the
non-rhizosphere soil

C. Thom and H. Humfeld (1932) found that corn roots in acidic soils yielded
predominantly Trichoderma while roots from alkaline soils mainly contained
Penicillium.

M J. Timonin (1940) reported some differences in the fungal types and

population in the rhizosphere of cereals and legumes. R: S ratio of fungal
population was believed to be narrow in most of the plant species, usually
not exceeding 10.

E. A. Peterson and others (1958) reported that the plant age and soil type
influence the nature of fungal flora in the rhizosphere, and the number of
fungal population gradually increases with the age of plant.

M. Adati (1932) studied many crops and found that though actinomycetes
were relatively less stimulated than bacteria, but in some cases the R: S
ratio of actinomycetes was as high as 62.
R. Venkatesan and G. Rangaswami (1965) studied the rhizosphere effect
in rice plant on bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi and reported that (i) for
actinornycetes R: S was more (ranging from 0 to 25) depending on the age
of plant roots and the dominant genera reported were Nocardia, (ii) R:S
ratio reduced with the depth of soil.

E. A. Gonsalves and V. S. Yalavigi (1960) reported the presence of greater

number of algae in the rhizosphere

J. W. Rouatt et al reported positive rhizosphere effect on protozoa, but a

negative effect on algae in wheat plants.