EFFECT OF BACTERIAL POLYSACCHARIDES ON THE GROWTH OF GAEUMANNOMYCES-GRAMINIS VAR TRITICI AND WHEAT ROOTS

Agrobacterium sp. and related species which in the soil and in the rhizosphere of wheat accompany the fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici and cause take-all of the wheat roots produced polysaccharides in pure cultures (glucans, mannoglucans and galactomannoglucans). These polysaccharides were utilized better by the mycelium of O. graminis than glucose and polysaccharides of plant origin that occurred on the surface of wheat roots (the so-called mucigel). At lower concentrations these bacterial polysaccharides stimulated growth of wheat roots, higher concentrations (more than 0.1 %) were inhibitory. Bacteria inoculated on the surface of wheat first inhibited and then stimulated the development of the plants and their growth. Changes in the growth rate of wheat, the rhizosphere of which was colonized by bacteria simultaneously with the fungus O. graminis and also some changes in the course of the disease of wheat roots caused by the fungus can be explained by the inhibitory or stimulatory effect of polysaccharides of accompanying bacteria. © 1979 Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.