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Solid-state culture of Azospirillum brasilense: a reliable technology for biofertilizer production from laboratory to pilot scale

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Abstract

A biofertilizer of Azospirillum brasilense was produced in solid-state culture (SSC) from laboratory to pilot scale. Similar operation conditions (continuous aeration and mild intermittent mixing) and two dimensionless numbers with similar L/D ratio and a similar working volume were applied to reach a scale-up factor of 75. An innovative bioreactor with rotating helical ribbons (15 kg wet matter) was used at pilot scale. A mathematical model was proposed and validated to evaluate the respirometry trends at laboratory and pilot scale exhibiting similar behavior. The cell viability was (1.3 ± 0.4) × 109 and (1.3 ± 0.3) × 109 colony-forming units per gram of initial dry mass at laboratory and pilot scale, at 36 and 43 h, respectively. A. brasilense maintains its viability twelve months of storage at 4 and 30 °C. This is the first report of A. brasilense being cultivated in SSC under controlled conditions. SSC processes involving unicellular microorganisms with tolerance to agitation are a promising technology to produce biofertilizers.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

Candida Martinez-Ramirez is grateful to Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), Mexico, for a PhD scholarship (265657). Many thanks to Dr. José Sepúlveda and Dr. Cristina Acosta-García for your support in SEM observations. Authors thank the financial support of CONACYT and Rubén Saucedo-Castañeda (RSC) from PIASSA, Culiacán, Sin., México. (225171). This work is dedicated to the memory of RSC.

Funding

Candida Martinez-Ramirez is grateful to Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), Mexico, for a PhD scholarship (project 265657). Authors thank the financial support of CONACYT and Rubén Saucedo-Castañeda (RSC) from PIASSA, Culiacán, Sin., México (project 225171).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Iztapalapa Campus, Metropolitan Autonomous University, 09340, Mexico City, Mexico

    C. Martínez-Ramírez, J. A. Martínez-Ruiz, G. Rodríguez-Serrano & G. Saucedo-Castañeda

  2. College of Postgraduates, Microbiology Area, Montecillo, Z.C. 56230, Mexico, State of Mexico, Mexico

    R. Esquivel-Cote & R. Ferrera-Cerrato

Authors
  1. C. Martínez-Ramírez
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  2. R. Esquivel-Cote
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  3. R. Ferrera-Cerrato
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  4. J. A. Martínez-Ruiz
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  5. G. Rodríguez-Serrano
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  6. G. Saucedo-Castañeda
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and experimental design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis of data were performed by CM-R, RE-C, RF-C, JAM-R, GR-S, and GS-C.

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Correspondence to G. Saucedo-Castañeda.

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Martínez-Ramírez, C., Esquivel-Cote, R., Ferrera-Cerrato, R. et al. Solid-state culture of Azospirillum brasilense: a reliable technology for biofertilizer production from laboratory to pilot scale. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 44, 1525–1538 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-021-02537-3

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