Effect of salinity on growth and starvation-survival of a tropical Rhizobium strain

The effect of salinity on growth, starvation-survival and recovery from salt stress of a Rhizobium sp. strain isolated from nodules of Acacia tortilis from a soil of Senegal was studied. Growth parameters of C-limited continuous cultures, grown in the presence and the absence of 342 mM NaCl, decreased in the saline medium and with increasing dilution rates. The survival capacity of starved cultures depended on the previous growth conditions: culturability of cells grown with salt was inversely related to growth rate, while culturability increased with increasing dilution rate for cultures grown without salt. Culturability of the cultures subjected to the double stress of starvation and salinity was reduced and a high percentage of cells entered the viable but nonculturable state. All the starved cultures were capable of regrowth when nutrients became available, thus showing that this strain can withstand long periods of nutrient deprivation in soil while maintaining the capacity for an active metabolism and a potential infectiousness toward an appropriate host.