Isolation and identification of a phosphate-solubilizing bacterium Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii g6, and effects of temperature, salinity, and pH on its growth under indoor culture conditions

Abstract

In South China, certain problems exist in some of aquaculture pond ecosystems, where the concentrations of total phosphorus are high in the sediment but the concentrations of phosphate are low in the overlying water. It is very important and necessary to isolate and screen some phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) that can adapt to the pond environment for enhancing the utilization of phosphorus in the aquaculture systems. To reach the objective, one PSB, named g6, was isolated using modified Pikovskaya and Pikovskaya medium. By 16S rDNA sequencing analysis and BIOLOG auto-identification system, this strain was identified as Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii. After 144 h strains cultivation in liquid National Botanical Research Institute’s phosphate growth medium, its activity resulted in accumulations of soluble phosphate 543 mg l−1. Based on the aquaculture pond ecosystems in South China, effects of temperature, salinity, and pH on g6’s growth were also conducted under indoor culture conditions. Results indicated that Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii g6 could tolerate wide range of temperature 15–35°C, salinity 5–35‰, and initial pH 6–10. The results showed that g6 had high solubilization efficiency in vitro and could be expected to adapt well to different aquaculture pond environments, based on culture results.