Isolation of Cold Tolerant Bacteria from Antalya Region and Analysis of Their Growth Rates

Only a portion of chemical fertilizers applied to soil can be used by plants, because nutrients can become insoluble in soil. Application of biofertilizers can make the nutrients bio-available for plants. This practice would be beneficial for both plant productivity and the environment. Aim of this study was to isolate and compare growth rates of bacterial strains isolated from low altitude and high altitude regions of Antalya. Our results showed that, bacterial strains isolated from high alitudes have higher growth rates at room temperature (15-25 C) and temperatures as low as 2 C, compared to strains isolated from low altitudes. This suggests that strains that can grow at 2 C also would have higher enzymatic activities at low temperatures which makes them better candidates for development of biofertilizers. Using cold adapted biofertilizer would have a positive effect on plant productivity in agricultural areas located in cold regions of Türkiye. Therefore, isolation of these organisms and testing of their biofertilizer potential is important for our agricultural applications.