Improved establishment and development of three cactus species inoculated with Azospirillum brasilense transplanted into disturbed urban desert soil

Survival and development of cactus transplants in urban, disturbed areas of the desert near La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, was monitored. Young plants of three species of pachycereid cacti (Pachycereus pringlei, Stenocereus thurberi, and Lophocereus schottii) inoculated with the plant growth promoting bacterium Azospirillum brasilense in an eroded area (a dirt road) had a high survival rate and developed more rapidly compared with uninoculated control plants during a 3.5-year period after transplantation. Soil erosion in the inoculated experimental area diminished. Small, but significant soil accumulated in association with the growth of cactus roots into the wind-deposited dust. One demonstrated mechanism for stabilizing dust was by the upward growth of small roots during the rainy season into the deposited dust. Azospirillum brasilense survived well in the rhizospheres of these cacti for 2 years, but not in root-free soil. This study demonstrated the feasibility of using bacterial inoculation of cacti to enhance their establishment in disturbed areas, with the potential to stabilize soil.