Ecological and genetic approaches for breeding plants for the effective interactions with microorganisms

Improvement of symbioses between plants and beneficial microorganisms (root nodule bacteria, growth-promoting rhizobacteria, mycorrhizal fungi) is among the major approaches for creating sustainable agricultural systems allowing us to decrease greatly the application of fertilizers and plant protecting chemicals. The modern advanced cultivars are exhausted in the genetic factors controlling effective symbioses with microbes determining the necessity to use wild growing plant genotypes as the sources of practically important «symbiotic» genes. The optimal symbiotic efficacy may be achieved via coordinated plant-microbe breeding aimed to create complementary combinations of the partners' genotypes. A high heritability of symbiotic properties (nitrogenase activity, productivity of plants grown under conditions of symbiotrophic nitrogen nutrition, preferable inoculation by highly effective rhizobia strains) was demonstrated in the legumes that may be improved for these properties using the broad spectrum of breeding methods.