Joint Immobilization of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria and Green Microalgae in Alginate Beads as an Experimental Model for Studying Plant-Bacterium Interactions

A simple, quantitative experimental model, offering a convenient and basic approach to studies of plant-bacterium interactions, is proposed. This involves immobilizing a unicellular, freshwater microalga, a Chlorella species, serving as the plant, with a plant growth-promoting bacterium, an Azospirillum species, in small alginate beads to allow close interaction and to avoid external interference from bacterial contaminants.