A NEW APPROACH TO ENHANCE GROWTH AND NODULATION OF ACACIA-MANGIUM THROUGH AEROPONIC CULTURE

This work was designed to determine whether a plant culture method on non-solid media could be used as an alternative for inoculation of Aca cia mangium with selected strains of Bradyrhizobium spp. A. mangium se edlings were grown and inoculated with Bradyrhizobium strain Aust13c a nd strain Tel2 in hydroponics, aeroponics and sand. Aeroponics was fou nd to be the best system of the three, allowing the production of tree saplings 1 m in height after only 4 months in culture. Moreover, comp ared to plants grown in liquid or sand media, aeroponically grown sapl ings inoculated with Bradyrhizobium spp. developed a very high number of small nodules distributed all along the root system, resulting in a n increase in nitrogen and chlorophyll content in plant tissues. We pr opose aeroponics as an alternative method to classical soil inoculatio n procedures for the production of hypernodulated legume tree saplings .