• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 1987

Nitrogen fixing activity associated with 40 varieties of rice was assayed at heading stage by an in situ acetylene reduction method. The in situ acetylene reduction activity and population of nitrogen fixing bacteria obtained on nitrogen-free malate medium for Azospirillum spp. enrichment showed positive correlation. Six Azospirillum spp. with high nitrogenase activity were isolated from the rice roots, from which five spp. were identified as A. lipoferum and one was A. brasilense. The physiological characteristics of the six Azospirillum isolates, that is, carbon source utilization, biotin requirement, antibiotic resistance, indole acetic acid excretion, plasmid profile and protein patterns were compared.