Evaluation of thermogravimetric analysis as a rapid tool for the detection of rhizobacteria biostimulants used in precision agriculture

Abstract

Six-week-old root samples were evaluated using high resolution (maximum resolution [MaxRes]) thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) of the cell wall compositions of Gram-positive (Bacillus mucilaginosus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, and Bacillus subtilis) and Gram-negative (Burkholderia sp., Rahnella aquatilis strain H 2.6, and R. aquatilis strain RC 2.5) root colonizing plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) commercial inoculant strains (biostimulants) applied to pot grown wheat plants. TGA discriminated the strains within the two types of rhizobacterial cohorts and thus provided a rapid non-molecular means for the detection of PGPR inoculant biostimulants within hours of root sampling. The latter was due to the greater degree of definition of TGA fingerprints of individual thermal weight loss events occurring over a degradation range, and heightened the corresponding peak temperature divergences within strains of either type of bacteria themselves for their unequivocal identification. Confirmation of biostimulant rhizobacteria identity in concomitant root samples was achieved through either cultural methods or direct tissue PCR molecular protocols within 5 days and 2 days of sampling, respectively. The results suggested that MaxRes TGA could serve as a rapid, inexpensive stand-alone tool or as combinatorial utility alongside pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectra, and Fourier transform infrared analytics for the early detection of PGPR biostimulants in precision farming.