Bacterial distribution on the ‘EC’SFS and NFS slopes.

1The data are expressed per gram of fresh weight. Wild barley roots were prepared as described in Material and Methods.Each data point represents three independent experiments. The culturable aerobic fraction of the total bacterial CFUs was determined on TSA plates as described in Material and Methods s-sun area; sh-shaded area.2Spores were counted using Shaeffer-Fulton staining.3ACC (1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate) medium was composed of salts for P. polymyxa minimal medium there the nitrogen source is replaced with ACC.4Biofilm formation was estimated as described in Material and Methods. The isolates with OD >1 were considered as biofilm formers.5Halophilic growth was determined in the medium containing 2 M NaCl (see Material and Methods).6P solubilization was estimated using NPRJP medium (see Material and Methods). The colonies with index >2 were considered as P solubilizers.