Name: Little Ricky
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
I'm a seventh grader doing a science project on the growth of plants.
I was using a CD ROM to do research when I ran into a word that was rhizobacterium
and didn't know what it meant. I would appreciate it if you would
tell me what rhizobacterium means.
Replies:
AHA!! a question just right for a microbiologist..
rhizobacterium is a group of organisms which live in
cooperation with legumes. What they do is take nitrogen
in the form of NO2 from the atmosphere and convert it
to a form that the plant can actually use to grow, something
like NH4 (ammonia) or NO3- (nitrate ion) In exchange, the
plants provide the little amount of organic material to feed
the bacteria and keep them happy, as well as providing a place
in which to live and grow (if you pull up a plant with
Rhizobium associated with it, you'll see little nodules on
the roots -- these contain the bacteria) Rhizobium is a
member of what are known as nitrogen-fixers, for this reason.
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