Root exudates as pre-invasive factors in the modulation of chick pea varieties

Five chick pea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties when inoculated with an effective Rhizobium strain showed significant variations in nodule number. The root exudates of the plant varieties were analysed for sugars, TCA cycle intermediates and amino acids. Xylose, citrate, alanine and phenylalanine were detected in exudates of one or two varieties, in addition to compounds common to all varieties such as glucose, glucosamine, ribose, serine, homoserine and glutamic acid. However, the concentration of all these compounds in the exudates collectively was inadequate to support Rhizobium growth under aseptic conditions. Several of the exuded compounds were chemotactic at very low concentrations. The rhizobia showed taxes toward growing roots of all the varieties in agar plates. Competition experiments showed that the rhizobia have a multiple-chemotactic system like that of Escherichia coli. It appears that root exudates accumulate Rhizobium along the growing roots through chemotaxis. The minor differences in exudate composition among varieties is not a factor responsible for variation in nodule number.