TITLE:
Rhizosphere Soil Microbial Characteristics and Enzyme Activities under Cajanus cajan and Milletia laurentii Grown in Scientific Center of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
AUTHORS:
Irene Marie Cécile Mboukou-Kimbatsa, Angélique Esperance Lembella Boumba, Alvychelle Benith Banga, Augustin Aimé Lebonguy, Joseph Goma-Tchimbakala
KEYWORDS:
Metagenomic, Microbial Diversity, Uncultured Bacteria, Microbial Biomass, Enzyme
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.15 No.1,
January
26,
2025
ABSTRACT: This study was conducted at the scientific center of Brazzaville. The objective was to assess the microbial characteristics and enzymes activities in the rhizosphere soil of Cajanus cajan and Milletia lauurentii. These plants have great importance in food and forestry. Microbial diversity management in the rhizosphere is the key for sustainable crop production or forest durability. DNA metagenomic sequencing was used to analyze the whole bacterial diversity, the microbial biomass was determinate by the fumigation-extraction method and the enzymes by the p-nitrophenol-β-D-glucoside for β-glucosidase, the p-nitrophenyl-N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminide for β-Glucosaminidase. Dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase were quantified using 2,3,5-tryphenyl tetrazolium chloride and p-nitophenylphosphate respectively. The results show that, in Cajanus cajan culturable bacteria genera were mainly Acidobacterium, Skermanella, Rhodoplanes, Bacillus, Chloroflexus, Steroidobacter, Sphingomonas and Bradyrhizobium while in Milletia laurentii: Rhodoplanes, Bradyrhizobium, Bacillus, Sphingobacterium, Acidobacterium, Mesorhizobium, Nitrospira were the principal genera. In the two rhizosphere soils investigated, the uncultured bacteria exhibited relatively higher abundance, often for the same genera, than culturable bacteria. Metagenomic studies have revealed more bacterial diversity in each compared to when culturable bacteria were taken into account alone. The MBC and MBN were higher in the rhizosphere of Milletia than in rhizosphere of Cajanus. The same trend was observed with the enzyme activities. PCA of culturable and NMDS of unculturable soil bacteria genera shows that factors mainly involved in the carbon cycle such as MBC, members of the microbial community i.e. Acidobacterium, Skermanella, Chloroflexus, sand, C, β-glucosaminidase and dehydrogenase, were strongly correlated with Cajanus cajan. On the other hand, the MBN, Mesorhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Burkholderia, Nitrospira, Nitratireductor, N, NH4, β-glucosidase and acid phosphatase involved in the N cycling, silt and clay were predominantly founded in the rhizosphere soil of Milletia laurentii. This study showed that metagenomic sequencing could improve the assessment of the microbial diversity structure of the rhizosphere.