Studies on microbial population in the rhizosphere of higher plants with special reference to the method of study

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Abstract
Introduction Many previous investigations, beginning with the observations of Hiltner19, have established the fact that soil in the rhizosphere contains a higher quantity of microorganisms than soil which is not within the influence of the plant root. It has been shown also that the balance between certain physiological groups4,21,43,45, as well as that between morphological types of bacteria or fungi30,50 is changed in the rhizosphere. In addition, Canadian investigators23,34,62) have reported a change in the balance of certain nutritional groups of soil bacteria in the rhizosphere. Two excellent reviews6,22) covering these papers have recently appeared. Since then a number of papers2,7,9,11,13,15-18,25,26,33,36,38-40,48,54,57-60,63) concerning various aspects of the microbial population of the rhizosphere have been published.