Practicals

Click HERE to download the Certificate  page need to be placed in the record 

DSE – 8B

APMB 364P                                        Practicals – XX: SOIL AND AGRICULTURAL MICROBIOLOGY                         (1 credit)


The fluorescent green highlighted experiments are those we take up in this semester

1. Isolation of bacteria, fungi and actinobacteria from soils.

2. Isolation of nitrogen fixing bacteria from legume root nodules (Expt. 1; Dt.15-02-2024; Lect Notes; Video Lect)

  • To know about the basics of the Rhizobium click HERE
  • To know about the names of rhizobium that nodulate legumes click HERE

3. Enumeration of rhizosphere to non rhizosphere population of bacteria.

4. Isolation of antagonistic Pseudomonas from soil.

5. Microscopic observations of root colonization by VAM fungi.

6. Isolation of Azospirillum sp. from the roots of grasses  (Expt. 2; Dt.29-02-2024; Lect Notes; Video Lect).

7. Isolation of phyllosphere microflora  (Expt. 3; Dt.07-03-2024; Lect Notes; Video Lect).

  • To know how PPFMs benefited the farming community in the Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu,  India read HERE 

8. Isolation of P solubilizing microorganisms.

9. Observation of Anabaena from Azolla plants  (Expt. 4; Dt.21-03-2024; Lect Notes; Video Lect).

  • A video in Tamil explaining the difference between the duckweed and the Azolla, to watch it click HERE
  • Azolla and Anabaena image for record you can download by clicking HERE

10. Demonstration on different biofertilizers types, formulation and application methods.

11. Visit to biofertilizers and biopesticides unit to understand about the Unit operation procedures. 


Reference: 

Amaresan N., Patel P. and Amin D. (Eds.) (2022) Springer Protocols: Practical Handbook on Agricultural Microbiology. Springer. p.391 


Additional practicals information: 

For additional practical experiments details click HERE [Source: Under graduate course AGM 301 Soil and Applied Microbiology (2+1)]




Keep the following points in mind while preparing and submitting record for valuation
    1.  Maintain a 80 pages unruled long size notebook as OBSERVATION NOTE

    1. Write in the RECORD NOTE BOOK similar to one you use in schools and should NOT write in loose sheets and bind.

    1. Fill the first paragraph of the Certificate page, paste in the record, click HERE to download the certificate page.   

    1. Fill the Index page with the details of the Expt No., title, date and submit.

    1. Scientific names need to be underlined; check HERE  to see how to write scientifc names.

    1. While writing experiment remember, diagrams (drawn with pencil)  media composition (are need to be written in left side in pen) and the textual portions alone need to be written in the right side.  

    1. While writing the experiment in right side pages of a record, dont forget to add in the top left side corner the experiment number and date. 

    1. Cover the record with a brown cover and submit.

    1. If you plan to submit record late due to any personal reasons or issues, before submission date get permission from course teacher by filling the permission form. 

(Note: Record lacking any one of the above points WILL NOT BE EVALAUTED/INTERNAL MARKS PROPORTIONATELY REDUCED)

The following are the medium compositions and the protocols commonly used in the class teaching 

1Stock Calculations for AMS medium.pdf
2 Medium Compositions.pdf
3Vss_Agrl Microbiol Practical final.doc

Documentation efforts of 2023

Methylobacterium rhodesianum.pdf

Documentation efforts of 2017

Enterobacter cloacae subsp.pdf

A presumptively identified culture in YEMA medium as Rhizobium based on the copious polysaccharides production, however, when its 16S rRNA gene was sequenced it was placed into Enterobacter spp. This strongly enforces the point that morphological identification cannot be used as SOLE CRITERION in bacterial identification.

Methylobacterium rhodesianum.pdf
Methylobacterium strains.pptx

Methylobacterium  colonies dwelling in leaves were isolated in Petri plates employing Methanol or ammonium  mineral salts (MMS/AMS) medium using leaf imprinting technique (Holland et al. 2000).

The second slide shows the phylogenetic position of the strain  and the same was submitted in the GenBank and documented, to see the GenBank accession details click HERE. 



Documentation Efforts of 2016

The above plate shows the growth of Azospirillum in the N free malic acid medium.

The left hand side greenish yellow shows the acidic nature of the medium and in the right side you can see the change in the medium colour to blue after Azospirillum growth indicating pH change to alkaline. 

Growth on Azospirillum in the N free semi solid medium showing the colour change after incubation 

The pale yellowish colonies is a purified Azospirillum strain growth in the R2A agar

Azospirillum growth and colour change in the N free malic acid medium 

Gummy colonies presumptively thought as Rhizobium 

Documentation efforts of 2015

Azospirillum isolation 

Rhizobium colonies showing the copious amount of polysaccharides secretions 

AM isoalted from Castor roots.pptx

Mycorrhiza isolated from the castor roots are stained with tryphan blue and visualized, note the presence of fat globules and in certain images, the fine intricate arbuscules and the resting spore was also identified but vesicles are absent or difficult to identify. 

Methylobacterium tarhaniae strain BMF145 16S ribosomal RNA gene, parti - Nucleotide - NCBI (2014).pdf

This one is a Methylobacterium spp. isolated from a Ficus religiosa plant in Tamil called as அரச மரம் (Arasa maram) grown on a wall cervices of Dept. of Microbiology.

The strain isolated in our class study is phylogenetically nearer to the one isolated from a dry environment, an arid soil