Switchgrass Field Performance on Two Soils as Affected by Bacterization of Seedlings with Burkholderia phytofirmans Strain PsJN

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a perennial warm season grass capable of growth on marginal lands without major inputs of water and fertilizers. However, full utilization of its agronomic potential as a bioenergy crop requires improvement of its stand establishment, disease resistance, and prevention of the biomass yield variation from year to year. Our program focuses on the utilization of beneficial bacterial endophytes to enhance switchgrass performance under a low-input production system on marginal lands. We demonstrated earlier that inoculation of switchgrass cv. Alamo with a growth promoting endophyte, Burkholderia phytofirmans strain PsJN (PsJN), can significantly enhance seedling vigor and plant growth under both in vitro and greenhouse conditions. In this study, we tested the effects of PsJN bacterization of switchgrass seedlings on stand establishment, plant growth, and biomass yield in three field experiments conducted over 2 years on highly fertile prime land, and on a former tobacco farm with low fertility soil. PsJN bacterization improved growth and development of switchgrass seedlings, significantly stimulated plant root and shoot growth, and tiller number on the low fertility soil (p < 0.001), and enhanced biomass accumulation on both poor (p < 0.001) and rich (p < 0.05) soils, with more effective stimulation of plant growth in low fertility soil than in high fertility soil. The study indicates the potential for the use of PsJN and/or other beneficial bacterial endophytes in the development of low-input switchgrass feedstock production systems.