KOMPAS.com – Soil contains various types of bacteria, one of which is the Rhizobium leguminosarum bacteria which can fertilize the soil. Why can the Rhizobium leguminosarum bacteria fertilize the soil?
The Rhizobium leguminosarum bacteria can fertilize the soil because it can fix nitrogen, here is the explanation!
Plants need nitrogen to form macromolecules such as chlorophyll, nucleic acids and also amino acids.
Simply put, plants need nitrogen for their bodies.
Also read: Why do plants really need nitrogen?
However, most of the nitrogen element is in the air in an unusable form.
Namely, in the form of nitrogen gas which makes up around 78 percent of the earth’s atmosphere.
Rhizobium leguminosarum functions to convert nitrogen that cannot be used into a form that can be used by plants.
According to Ambayeba Muimba in Leguminous Crops (2018), Rhizobium leguminosarum is a species of soil bacteria that can fix nitrogen in the atmosphere through its symbiosis with plant roots.
Also read: How Do Organisms Obtain Nitrogen?
Reporting from Biology LibreTexts, this is because the bacteria Rhizobium leguminosarum has a nitrogenation enzyme that can fix nitrogen.
Rhizobium leguminosarum converts nitrogen gas into ammonia (NH3) which can be utilized by the body.
According to Yassine Mabrouk, et al in Potential of Rhizobia in Improving Nitrogen Fixation and Yields of Legumes (2017), plants provide a microaerobic and carbohydrate environment that supports the metabolism of these bacteria.
Thus, plants and bacteria Rhizobium leguminosarum carry out a mutualistic symbiosis.
Also read: Rhizobium sp., Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria
Meanwhile, most of the nitrogen in the soil is the result of fixation by Rhizobium bacteria.
The more nitrogen a plant can use, the more fertile the plant will be.
So, it can be said that Rhizobium leguminosarum can fertilize the soil.
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2024-01-20 14:00:00
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