Author : Muhammad Yasir^a, Zubair Aslam^a, Seon Won Kim^a, Seon-Woo Lee^b, Che Ok Jeon^c and Young Ryun Chung^a.

Address : (^aDivision of Applied Life Science (BK 21), PMBBRC and EB-NCRC, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea, ^bDepartment of Applied Biology, College of Natural Resources and Life Science, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, Republic of Korea, ^cDepartment of Life Sciences, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, Republic of Korea).

Abstract : Bacterial community composition and chitinase gene diversity of vermicompost with antifungal activity.

Journal : Bioresource Technology,

Volume No. : Volume 100(19)

Publish Year : 2009

Page No. : 4396-4403

Main Data : Bacterial communities and chitinase gene diversity of vermicompost (VC) were investigated to clarify the influence of earthworms on the inhibition of plant pathogenic fungi in VC. The spore germination of Fusarium moniliforme was reduced in VC aqueous extracts prepared from paper sludge and dairy sludge (fresh sludge, FS). The bacterial communities were examined by culture-dependent and -independent analyses. Unique clones selected from 16S rRNA libraries of FS and VC on the basis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) fell into the major lineages of the domain bacteria Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Among culture isolates, Actinobacteria dominated in VC, while almost equal numbers of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were present in FS. Analysis of chitinolytic isolates and chitinase gene diversity revealed that chitinolytic bacterial communities were enriched in VC. Populations of bacteria that inhibited plant fungal pathogens were higher in VC than in FS and particularly chitinolytic isolates were most active against the target fungi. Keywords: Bacterial community; Chitinase; Plant pathogenic fungi; Paper sludge; Vermicomposting