Beans and soil?

Question

Hello, I have a quick question. If I were to take some soil, heat it so the microorganisms in the soil were killed then planted some beans seeds in the soil and waited a WEEK, would the results differ much from a bean seed that had been planted in soil with the microorganisms still living? I only have one week to carry out the tests. Thanks

Answer 1

There will not be a great difference in the germination of the bean seeds.  They will germinate.  Later on atmospheric bacterial spores will invade the roots and form the root nodules and fix the atmospheric nitrogen.

Answer 2

Ya, the result differs because in untreated soil the rhizobium bacteria is present & it forms root nodules on the beans roots thus fixes atmospheric nitrogen and favors its rapid growth.  While all this is not possible in treated soil.

Answer 3

If you only have a week for the experiment, then the answer is likely no. That amount of time is not long enough for one to observe the positive effects of mycorrhizae, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, etc. to be displayed, in terms of plant growth. In fact, depending on the legume species in question, they may or may not have exhausted all of their maternal resources by this time, so the soil conditions will be much less relevant than they would be for older individuals.