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SCREENING OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING TRAITS IN CULTURABLE SOIL AND PLANT-ASSOCIATED HETEROTROPHIC BACTERIA

Natalia D. Wackerow-Kouzova

Abstract

Acrylic derivative-based superabsorbents are widely used currently in agriculture as the soil conditioners, plant growth regulators, etc. Their usage has a positive effect on the growth and survival of the plants cultivated in the arid regions. However, the effects of hydrophilic acrylic polymers on the soil microbiocenosis still remain unknown. The influence of the moisture-absorbing acrylic acid-based hydrogels with different concentration of bentonite filler was studied on the soil microbiota. N,N-methylenebisacrylamide was used as a crosslinking agent. Acrylic hydrogels were synthesized by radical polymerization in an aqueous medium at a synthesis temperature of 45 °C during 4 hours. Hydrogel was synthesized with and without filler. The work investigated the impact on the soil of pure bentonite, hydrogel without filler and hydrogel with filler. The number of bacteria and the length of the mycelium was investigated on days 1, 14 and 30 of the experiment. The application of acrylic bentonite-containing hydrogels of the certain concentrations (0.5 and 1 % wt.) into the soil did not cause significant changes in the total abundance of heterotrophic bacteria and the length of the fungal mycelium.

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