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Nonsymbiotic nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms in forest and tundra soils

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Summary

Soil samples obtained from various forested sites in North Carolina and Washington and from Alaskan tundra were examined for the presence of heterotrophic, nonsymbiotic nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms.

Aerobic, nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms were not isolated from any of the soils examined.

Estimates of anaerobic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in these soils ranged from 50,000 to 2,000,000/g when a dilution plate technique and a medium supplemented with potato extract was used. However, the isolation of individual colonies from the dilution plates showed that many of these bacteria were unable to fix nitrogen. Soil populations well below 100,000/g were generally indicated by this colony isolation technique. Differentiation of the colonies by size improved the accuracy of the dilution plate estimates somewhat. Dilution tube procedures appeared more suitable for obtaining accurate counts of nitrogen-fixing anaerobes in the soil than the use of dilution plates.

The predominant nitrogen-fixing bacterium in most soils was a facultative anaerobe,Bacillus polymyxa. Appreciable numbers of nitrogen-fixing clostridia were also found in several tree nursery soils but were seldom isolated from forest and tundra samples.

The clostridia isolated were classified asClostridium butyricum andC. pasteurianum. Variations in the fermentation patterns of these bacteria occurred when the nitrogen supply of the medium was altered. TheC. butyricum isolates were all from forest soils while all except one of theC. pasteuranium isolates were from tundra soils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.

    M. F. Jurgensen & C. B. Davey

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  1. M. F. Jurgensen
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  2. C. B. Davey
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Paper number2998 of the Journal Series of the North Carolina State University Agricultural Experiment Station, Raleigh, N.C

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Jurgensen, M.F., Davey, C.B. Nonsymbiotic nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms in forest and tundra soils. Plant Soil 34, 341–356 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01372789

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01372789

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