Diversity and functional properties of acid-tolerant bacteria isolated from tea plantation soil of Assam

• Published in: 3 Biotech Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 229 - 16
• Main Authors: Goswami, Gunajit, Deka, Priyadarshini, Das, Pompi, Bora, Sudipta Sankar, Samanta, Ramkrishna, Boro, Robin Chandra, Barooah, Madhumita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-07-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Agriculture; Bacteria; Bioinformatics; Biomaterials; Biotechnology; Cancer Research; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Community structure; Gram-positive bacteria; Indoleacetic acid; Klebsiella; Original; Original Article; pH effects; Phospholipids; Plant growth; Plantations; Properties (attributes); Soil chemistry; Soil microorganisms; Soil pH; Solubilization; Stem Cells; Taxonomy; Tea; Plant growth promoting bacteria; Acid soil bacteria; 16S rDNA; Bacterial diversity; Phospholipid fatty acid analysis; Fatty acid methyl ester
• ISSN: 2190-572X; 2190-5738
• DOI: 10.1007/s13205-017-0864-9

In this study, we report on the bacterial diversity and their functional properties prevalent in tea garden soils of Assam that have low pH (3.8–5.5). Culture-dependent studies and phospholipid fatty acid analysis revealed a high abundance of Gram-positive bacteria. Further, 70 acid-tolerant bacterial isolates characterized using a polyphasic taxonomy approach could be grouped to the genus
Bacillus
,
Lysinibacillus
,
Staphylococcus
,
Brevundimonas
,
Alcaligenes
,
Enterobacter
,
Klebsiella
,
Escherichia
, and
Aeromonas
. Among the 70 isolates, 47 most promising isolates were tested for their plant growth promoting activity based on the production of Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), siderophore, and HCN as well as solubilization of phosphate, zinc, and potassium. Out of the 47 isolates, 10 isolates tested positive for the entire aforesaid plant growth promoting tests and further tested for quantitative analyses for production of IAA, siderophore, and phosphate solubilization at the acidic and neutral condition. Results indicated that IAA and siderophore production, as well as phosphate solubilization efficiency of the isolates decreased significantly (
P
 ≤ 0.05) in the acidic environment. This study revealed that low soil pH influences bacterial community structure and their functional properties.