Fig. 1.

Expression of (A) nifD and (B) nifK genes in nodules of chickpea plants. Chickpea seedlings were inoculated with either McCP-31 or MmSWR19 strain and grown over a period of 30 d after sowing under Pi-sufficient (+P) or -deficient (−P) conditions. Relative expression was computed based on the expression level of the target gene and the 16S rRNA reference gene. Data presented are the means ± SE of three independent biological replicates (with two technical repeats for each biological replicate). Data with different letters reveal significant differences as measured by a Duncan’s multiple range test (P ≤ 0.05).