CURRENT STATUS OF AGRO-MICROBIAL GERMPLASM IN VIETNAM

The agro-microbial germplasm unit in Vietnam was established in 1994. The main activities are collecting, maintenance, isolation, evaluation, taxonomy, documentation and research on application ability of microorganisms in agriculture. 703 strains of bacteria, actinomyces, yeasts and filamentous fungi imported or isolated are collected and maintained by The agro-microbial germplasm unit. The different preservation methods has been used to maintain living ability and biological activity of microorganisms such as by slant agar, sterile distilled water, liquid paraffin, freeze-drying, methylcellulose, liquid nitrogen freezing. These strains has been collected from soils, root nodules or root samples and screened based on biological activities (nitrogen fixing, phosphorous solubilizing, silicate dissolving, cellulose degradation, plant growth promoting, tolerant to high temperature, salt tolerant, polysaccharide synthesis, anti-pathogenic bacteria, fungi and etc.). Bergey’s taxonomy key, standard KIT, BIOLOG or sequence analysis of 16S/28S rRNA genes was used for taxonomy. The agro-microbial strains were documented, evaluated and utilized in agriculture. At present, 130 out of 703 strains have been introduced to research and production of microbial organic fertilizers and microbial inoculants.