Soil Bacteria and Actinomycete Plating

Soil bacteria can be counted and grown using dilution and plating methods. Surface soils contain inorganic and organic particles that form secondary aggregates. The spaces between these aggregates hold air and water. That mix creates a good habitat for bacteria, and soil often contains more than 1 million bacteria per gram.<...

Determining an accurate count of environmental bacteria is critical to assessing the health of a soil ecosystem. This can be accomplished by culturing bacterial colonies with appropriate dilutions.

Soil bacteria are an important part of a healthy soil ecosystem, playing roles in decomposition, nitrogen fixing, and nutrient cycling. Surface...