Survival of five diazotrophic bacterial strains in different substrates used in sugarcane seedling propagation.

An inoculant containing selected bacterial strains can be easily applied during the nursery please process, but in this case, substrate composition can affect its survival and, in consequence, bacterial colonization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival of five diazotrophic bacterial strains/species applied individually on 13 different substrates used in sugarcane seedling nurseries considering an active population higher than 10 cells g. In addition, one experiment was performed using two commercial substrates, coconut fiber, and Multiplant™, inoculated or not with a mixture of five bacterial strains to evaluate plant growth after 30 days.