Isolation of Phototrophic Bacteria from Water and Soil Samples

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to isolate and identify phototrophic bacteria from water and soil sources. The water samples were collected from the river of Godavari at Rajahmundry near Mangalavaripeta and Estuarian water from Antharvedi, a place where the Godavari River merges with the Bay of Bengal. The Soil samples were collected from Rice fields near Kurmurthy and the selected samples were enriched in Biebl and pfenning media for the isolation of phototrophic bacteria. About twenty-one strains of bacteria were obtained in anaerobic cultures. The pure isolates were tentatively identified by studying the optimum pH, shape of the bacterial cell, colour of the cell suspensions, biomass, pigmentation characters like predominant bacteriochlorophylls and carotenoids. Tentative identification of these strains helps in further screening for desired phototrophic organisms for various applications.