Historically, agricultural production has relied on practices designed to manage nutrients, water, weeds, and crop diseases. Precision agriculture and integrated pest management programs have gone one step further by recognizing the need to target inputs where they are required in the field. The major objective of these programs has been to minimize adverse environmental impacts of intensive agriculture practices and reduce per unit production costs. This review surveys the literature, examining the manipulation of microbial (primarily bacterial) populations as linked to agricultural production, and discusses new approaches that involve the precision management of microorganisms in the agro-ecosystem. It is proposed that our understanding of plant–soil interactions can be greatly refined through the development of “smart” field technology, where real-time, computer-controlled electronic diagnostic devices can be used to monitor rhizosphere and plant health. We submit that “smart field” generated information could be used to develop a prescription for timely and low-level production interventions that will avoid the traditional inundative approaches to crop maintenance and soil husbandry. Consequently, a lesser impact on the agricultural soil environment is envisioned. The maximization of production efficiencies will also involve the development of crop cultivars that are bred specifically to capitalize on beneficial plant–microbial associations.

The bacterial diversity of seeds, transmission of bacteria from seed to phyllosphere, and fate of seed-transmitted bacteria on mature plants are poor

Previous studies have suggested that the apoplast solution of sugarcane stalk tissue contains high concentrations of sucrose, but the accuracy of these reports has been questioned because sucrose leakage from damaged cells may have influenced the results. In this study, the solute potential of the apoplast and symplast of the second (immature), tenth, twentieth, thirtieth, and fortieth internodes of field-grown sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrid) stalk tissue was determined by two independent methods. Solute potential of the apoplast was measured either directly by osmometry from solution collected by centrifugation, or inferred from the initial water potential of fully hydrated tissue determined by thermocouple psychrometry before the tissue was progressively dehydrated for generation of water potential isotherms. Both methods produced nearly identical values ranging from −0.6 to −1.8 megapascals for immature and mature tissue, respectively. The solute potential of the symplast determined by either method ranged from −1.0 to approximately −2.2 megapascals for immature and mature internodes, respectively. Solute quantitation by HPLC agreed with concentrations inferred from osmometry. Washing thirtieth internode tissue in deionized water increased pressure potential from 0.29 to 1.96 megapascals. The apoplast of mature sugarcane stalk tissue is a significant storage compartment for sucrose containing as much as 25% of the total tissue water volume and as much as 21% of the stored sucrose.

Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) seeds are germinable 15 to 20 days before fruit maturity and are held at relatively high water content within the fruit, yet little precocious germination is observed. To investigate two possible factors preventing precocious germination, the inhibitory effects of abscisic acid and osmoticum on muskmelon seed germination were determined throughout development. Seeds were harvested at 5-day intervals from 30 to 65 days after anthesis (DAA) and incubated either fresh or after drying on factorial combinations of 0, 1, 3.3, 10, or 33 micromolar abscisic acid (ABA) and 0, −0.2, −0.4, −0.6, or −0.8 megapascals polyethylene glycol 8000 solutions at 30°C. Radicle emergence was scored at 12-hour intervals for 10 days. In the absence of ABA, the water potential (Ψ) required to inhibit fresh seed germination by 50% decreased from −0.3 to −0.8 megapascals between 30 and 60 DAA. The Ψ inside developing fruits was from 0.4 to 1.4 megapascals lower than that required for germination at all stages of development, indicating that the fruit Ψ is sufficiently low to prevent precocious germination. At 0 megapascal, the ABA concentration required to inhibit germination by 50% was approximately 10 micromolar up to 50 DAA and increased to >33 micromolar thereafter. Dehydration improved subsequent germination of immature seeds in ABA or low Ψ. There was a linear additive interaction between ABA and Ψ such that 10 micromolar ABA or −0.5 megapascal osmotic potential resulted in equivalent, and additive, reductions in germination rate and percentage of mature seeds. Abscisic acid had no effect on embryo solute potential or water content, but increased the apparent minimum turgor required for germination. ABA and osmoticum appear to influence germination rates and percentages by reducing the embryo growth potential (turgor in excess of a minimum threshold turgor) but via different mechanisms. Abscisic acid apparently increases the minimum turgor threshold, while low Ψ reduces turgor by reducing seed water content.