The effect of tryptophan present in plant root exudates on the phytostimulating activity of rhizobacteria

Aseptic tomato and radish roots were found to exude, respectively, 2.8-5.3 and 290-390 ng tryptophan per seedling per day. The inoculation of radish plants with rhizosphere pseudomonads increased the root biomass by 1.4 times. The inoculation of tomato plants with the same pseudomonads was ineffective. The beneficial effect of bacterial inoculation on the radish plants can be explained by the fact that the introduced rhizobacteria produce the plant growth-stimulating hormone indole-3-acetic acid. In pot experiments, the addition of this phytohormone to the soil increased the mass of radish roots by 36%. The phytohormonal action of the rhizosphere microflora was found to be efficient provided that the concentration of tryptophan in the rhizosphere is sufficiently high.