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Effect of Marine Microorganisms on Limestone As an Approach for Calcareous Soil sustainability Article Effect of Marine Microorganisms on Limestone as an Approach for Calcareous Soil Juan Antonio Villarreal Sanchez 1,*, Lourdes Diaz Jimenez 1 ID , Jose Concepcion Escobedo Bocardo 1, Jose Omar Cardenas Palomo 2, Nereida Elizabeth Guerra Escamilla 2 and Jesus Salvador Luna Alvarez 2 1 Cinvestav-Saltillo, Avenue Industria Metalúrgica 1062, Parque Industrial Saltillo-Ramos Arizpe, Ramos Arizpe, 25900 Coahuila, Mexico; [email protected] (L.D.J.); [email protected] (J.C.E.B.) 2 Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, Blvd. Venustiano Carranza S/N, Colonia República Oriente, Saltillo, 25280 Coahuila, México; [email protected] (J.O.C.P.); [email protected] (N.E.G.E.); [email protected] (J.S.L.A.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +52-844-1328613 Received: 5 April 2018; Accepted: 15 June 2018; Published: 19 June 2018 Abstract: Calcareous soils generally have low levels of organic matter and nitrogen; they require modification to promote their support for agriculture production. Calcareous soils are commonly found in important agricultural areas throughout the world, mainly around the Mediterranean, America and Australia. In this study, we the isolated and identified different groups of microorganisms, from a product made from seaweed, in relation to their soil improvement properties. The objective was to use these microorganisms for the solubilization of specific soil elements and reduce their accumulation as a result of overfertilization. The isolated microorganisms were grown in specific culture media and were applied on limestone to determine their effect on mobility of Ca, Mg and K. Also, changes in soil properties such as pH, texture and density were evaluated. This study demonstrated that the treatments applied were able to modify the solubility of Ca, Mg and K, increasing it, in some cases, up to 3500%. In addition, an increase of organic matter close to 200% was observed. Both the group of molds and yeasts, and the group of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, modified the proportion of sand, silt and clay in the treated limestone. These results open possibilities for the widespread use of marine microorganisms on a large scale in the agricultural sector, since they improve the nutrient availability present in the soil. Keywords: cation mobility; edaphic properties; isolation microorganisms; Algaenzims® 1. Introduction Soil degradation, by acidification/basification and salinization, is the main consequence of intensive agricultural techniques [1]. This is even more significant in calcareous soils, which are distributed all around the world. For example, they are present near the Mediterranean in North Africa, North America (USA, Mexico), South America (Argentina, Chile) and Australia [2]. Nowadays, many efforts to recover the productivity and fertility of soils are being undertaken. Technologies that facilitate the absorption of some nutrients and reduce the effects of soil degradation are the most recurring [3–5]. From an environmental point of view, mineral sources allow the solving of serious problems in agricultural production, of which reduction of acidity, erosion, soil salinity and loss of nutrients are the most representative. In recent years, the role of microorganisms in the physicochemical modification of soil has been investigated. This modification is affected by the translocation of the metal cations in the soil [6,7]. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2078; doi:10.3390/su10062078 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2018, 10, 2078 2 of 11 On the other hand, organic sources are the core of organic fertilizers due to their capacity to supply nutrients to crops and improve the properties of agricultural land [8,9]. However, when the crops suffer a lack of nutrients from the organic sources, it is necessary to incorporate chemical fertilizers. Nowadays, the proper handling of the relationship between microorganisms, plants and soil has become a promising biotechnology alternative for generating cleaner and more sustainable production systems [10,11]. Therefore, the knowledge of microbial diversity can help restoration systems to develop themselves. Microorganisms promote the growth of plants by their nutritional intake or by improving soil features through a better aggregation of particles, increasing soil retention, porosity, water retention and erosion control [12]. In this sense, biofertilizers have attracted attention due to their organic properties and efficient nutrient liberation. These characteristics make them a promising option for the substitution of synthetic fertilizers. Algaenzims® is a commercial biofertilizer made from marine algae of the Sargassum genus, which has many microorganisms that remain viable after the manufacturing process of the product. Algaenzims® has shown remarkable improvement in the growth of different crops: at least 65% increase in peanut production, 100% in sweet potato and up to 50% in lucerne and serrano chili [13]. This effect is attributed to the high microbial load, which has an active role in the results and benefits of the product. Thus, it is important to identify the effect of such microorganisms on soil characteristics, either by modifying its texture or structure. Furthermore, in Mexico there are large surfaces of calcareous soils that represent important challenges. To attend to these problems, in this study, the isolation and identification of different groups of microorganisms from a product made from seaweed are presented. In addition, the effect of added microorganisms on soils was determined. Since high heterogeneity of natural soils induces interference in and low reproducibility of results, it is common to use model soils, as done by Celis et al. [14], Kuyukina et al. [15] and Hwang et al. [16]. For this reason, in this study, it was decided to use limestone as a model of an extremely calcareous soil. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Isolation of Microbial Groups from Algaenzims® The microorganism isolation from Algaenzims® was performed by selecting the proper growth medium in order to obtain the nutritional and environmental conditions to promote the growth of the different kinds of microorganisms. Nutritive agar for Mesophilic Aerobic Bacteria (MAB), Sabouraud agar for Yeasts and Molds (YM), agar for Nitrogen-Fixing microorganisms (NF) and halophilic agar for Halophilic bacteria (HALO) were used. Standard methods for agar formulations were followed. For nitrogen fixing microorganisms, the culture medium was prepared using dibasic potassium phosphate (2 g L−1), D-mannitol (20 g L−1) and bacterial agar (20 g L−1). The culture medium for halophilic microorganisms was formulated using sodium citrate (10 g L−1), sodium thiosulfate (10 g L−1), sucrose (20 g L−1), sodium chloride (25 g L−1), ferric chloride (1 g L−1), dibasic potassium phosphate (2 g L−1), magnesium sulfate (5 g L−1) and agar (20 g L−1). Applying the serial dilution in peptone water method (10−1 to 10−10), the isolation of different groups of microbes from Algaenzims® was carried out. A volume of 1 mL of each dilution was transferred to Petri dishes which contained the corresponding culture medium. The dishes were incubated at the following temperatures: nutritive agar at 37 ◦C for 24 h, Sabouraud agar at 25 ◦C for 48 h and HALO and the nitrogen fixing agar at room temperature for 1 week. After incubation, quantitative measurements of microbial colonies were performed. This procedure made it possible to detect the limit dilution at which the microbial growth was shown; it also made it possible to determine the microbial load in the initial sample [17,18]. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2078 3 of 11 2.2. Strain Isolation, Propagation and First Characterization Using selective agars inoculated with the strains coming from the microbial count, a qualitative study for morphological characterization of the different colonies was made. Microorganisms that showed different morphology were isolated and incubated in Petri dishes at the temperatures and times indicated above. After the incubation, the strains were reseeded in culture tubes. This step was carried out in order to obtain pure strains for preservation, morphology analysis (color, elevation and shape) and inoculation of the medium applied to the limestone. Strain typification was carried out by biochemical tests and Gram-stain using Phenotype MicroArray™ of BIOLOG system. The propagation of the microbial groups isolated from Algaenzims® was made using a nutritive broth for YM and MAB; and halophilic and nitrogen fixers broths, for HALO and FN microbial groups, respectively, for which the same formulations were used as for solid culture media without adding agar. The isolated strains were kept on Difco brand Brain Heart Infusion agar, which was prepared according to the manufacturer’s instructions, incubated at 35 ◦C until visible growth was observed, and then kept in refrigeration at 4 ◦C. 2.3. Limestone Pretreatment The limestone was dried and sterilized at 120 ◦C for 2 h. After that, the limestone was stored in plastic bags. 2.4. Microbial Treatments The first four treatments (T1, T2, T3 and T4) consisted of the addition of 300 mL of the different microbial group inoculums (MAB, YM, NF and HALO, respectively) into the 1 L capacity plastic pots with limestone (1 kg per pot). The concentration of the inoculums added was 1% of the initial field capacity (36 mL inoculum in 3.6 L distilled water). T5 treatment consisted of the addition of 300 mL of Algaenzims® at the same concentration. The Control treatment consisted of placing 1 kg of the material in identical pots, to which distilled water was added at the same time and the same volume as the rest of the treatments. A plastic container was placed at the base of each pot to recover the leachates; the assays were replicated 4 times, placing the pots in a completely random arrangement. This study did not consider a treatment using only the culture medium. The reason for this was to avoid the possibility that some adventitious microorganisms, present in the study area, had been incubated and grown in the system.
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