Assay of nitrogenase activity in intact plant systems

Nitrogenase activity was assayed in intact system of Cichorium intybus, a non-leguminous commercially cultivated crop, Dahlia pinnata and Helianthus annus, and Taraxacum officinale, a common weed plant. The assay was made in fabricated cylinders which could accomodate pot with plants. In such kind of assay along with rhizosphere microflora, the nitrogen fixed by phyllosphere nitrogen fixing microflora could also be accounted, which otherwise was difficult to be accounted for.