EXPERIMENT No.

15
“MICROBIOLOGY OF SOIL”
APPARATUS/ MATERIALS REQUIRED:
 Test tubes
 Glass slides
 Auto clave
 Incubator
 Microscope
 Nutrient Agar
 Soil sample

THEORATICAL BACKGROUND:
Soil microbiology is the study of organisms in soil, their functions and how they
affect soil properties. Soil microorganisms can be classified as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi,
algae, protozoa and viruses.
Surface Soil
Surface soil are a heterogeneous mixture of inorganic and organic particles that combine
together to form second aggregates. Within and between the aggregates are voids or pores
that usually contain air and water. These conditions create an ideal ecosystem for bacteria, so
all so

PRINCIPLE:
Soil is rich nutrient habitat for many types of organisms i.e., bacteria, fungi, algae and insects
usually worms. Soil on this basis is divided to three groups.
I) Sewerage/ Damp soil,
II) Ground/ Wet soil and
III) River Soil
PROCEDURE:

1. To begin the procedure, first to prepare the serial dilutions of soil sample. Weigh out 1 g
of soil sample and add to 9 ml deionized water. Shake the suspension well and labelled
as “A”.
2. Before the soil settled, remove 1 ml of suspension with sterile pipette and transfer it to
9 ml of deionized water blank vortex thoroughly and labelled as “B”.
3. Repeat this dilution step three times, each time with 1 ml of previous suspension and 9
ml deionized water blank. Label these subsequentially as tubes “C”, “D” and “E”. This
result in serial dilutions of 10-1 through 10-5 grams of soil per ml.
4. Take three pre-prepared peptone yeast agar plates and labelled them as “C”, “D” and
“E” and pipetted out 0.1 ml onto each plates from their respected numbers tubes “C”,
“D” and “E”.
5. Using sterilized spreader (glass rod) to spread the inoculum around the surface of the
agar (in each petri-plate “C”, “D” and “E” but each time sterilize the spreader before to
spread the inoculum).
6. Incubate the bacterial plates at room temperature (37 °C) for 24 – 48 hrs.

Figure: Microbiology of Soil

RESULT/ INFERENCE:
Observed the variations in bacterial growth on different soil samples and noticed the most
enrich medium with most agar/ strong bacterial growth.

PRECAUTIONS:
1. Collect the soil samples from different places.
2. Apparatus should be sterilized.
3. Transfer the medium into petridish under sterile condition i.e., laminar flow cabinet.
4. Working quickly so as not to contaminate the agar with air-born organisms.
5. Incubate the bacterial plates at room temperature (37 °C).
6. Make sure the plates are inverted during the incubation to prevent drops of moisture
from condensation from falling onto the agar surface.
7. Inoculate the medium with soil samples carefully.