More than rhizosphere colonization of strawberry plants by Azospirillum brasilense

► Strawberry root and stolon colonization by Azospirillum brasilense. ► Azospirillum colonizes mother- and non-inoculated daughter-plants via stolons. ► Counts of diazotrophs are higher in root samples rather than stolons. ► Amplification of nifD gene proves the occurrence of diazotrophs within plant tissues. ► ARDRA and 16S rDNA sequencing identifies the re-isolated bacteria as A. brasilense.