1. ECOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PHYTO-BENEFICIAL BACTERIA TOWARDS IMPROVEMENT OF MAIZEBy
*1, 3, 4ABIALA, M. A, 1ODEBODE, A. C, 3ADEOYE, G. O, 4HSU, F., and 4BLACKWOOD, C. B.
1Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
2Department of Biological Sciences, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria
3Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
4Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University.

2. Maize (Zea mays L.): Why this study? Introduction
Economic importance (CIMMYT, 2010)
High demand (Akande, 1994)
Implication of NPK fertilizer (Gerhardson, 2002)
Any alternative for NPK fertilizer?
Phyto-beneficial bacteria as an alternative
(Tilak et al., 2007; Hayat et al., 2010)
Why this study?
Objectives
Phylogenetic assessment of phyto-
beneficial bacteria
With respect to ecological distribution
in Southwestern Nigeria

3. Materials and Methods Field Survey Laboratory evaluation
Screen house evaluation
Phylogenetic analysis
- Taxonomy (Wang et al., 2007)
- Editing of sequences - Bioedit version
- Sequence alignment (Thompson et al., 1994)
- Phylogenetic - Mega 5 (Tamura et al., 2011)
Data Collection and Analysis
Zone of inhibition (mm)
Plumule and radicle length
Phosphateand chitinase activity index
Growth parameters
Plant height,
Stem girth,
Number of leaves
and Leaf area
ANOVA was performed using SAS ( 9.2)
- Tukey – Kramer HSD test at α = 0.05
- SNK test at α = 0.05
Figure 1: Map of Southwestern Nigeria showing Ecological zones and Study areas.

4. Evaluation and screening parameters
Table 1: Plant growth promoting characteristics of bacterial isolates
Evaluation and screening parameters
Effectiveness (%)
Antagonistic bioassay
20.25
Phosphate solubilization
61.20
Chitinase activity
63.30
IAA (L – Tryptophan)
100.00
IAA (D – L Tryptophan)
Seed germination
Radicle length
60.42
Plumule length
47.20
Plant height
81.25
Stem girth
0.00
Number of leaves
83.33
Leaf area
68.75
Disease expression at day 14
12.24
Disease expression at day 21
43.75
Bacteria load
97.92

5. Effect of beneficial bacteria on maize seed germination
Effect of beneficial bacteria on maize root whorls
Effect of beneficial bacteria on maize growth
Plate 1: Diagram representing sequential effect of beneficial bacteria on maize growth

6. Table 2: Molecular identification in distribution of phyto-beneficial bacterial isolates
Phyto-beneficial bacteria code
Ecological Zone
RDP Similarity match (%)
Molecular
identification
Dendogram / phylogenetic similarity match
ILS13
Derived Savannah
Bacillus sp. (100%)
Bacillus sp.
Bacillus niacini
EPR7
Fresh water swampy forest
Bacillus aeolius
EPR2
Lysinibacillus sp. (100%)
Lysinibacillus sp.
Lysinibacillus boronitolerans
IGGR11
Enterobacter sp. (93%)
Enterobacter sp.
Enterobacter pyrinus
OSR7
Lowland rain forest
Enterobacter sp. (70%)
Enterobacter radicincitans
IBS8
Citrobacter sp. (97%)
Citrobacter sp.
Citrobacter fameri
UNS9
Mangrove forest
Stenotrophomonas sp. (100%)
Stenotrophomonas sp.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
ABS6
Azomonas sp. (26%)
Azomonas sp.
Azomonas macrocytogenes
TDS9
Guinea Savannah
Myroides sp. (100%)
Myroides sp.
Myroides odoratus
AT-IKS
IPR1
EPR4

7. Firmicutes (25.00%) Proteobacteria (41.67%) Bacteroidetes (33.33%)
Prevalence of occurrence (%)
Phyto-beneficial bacteria
Firmicutes (25.00%)
Bacteroidetes (33.33%)
Figure 1: Distribution of 16Sr DNA identified phyto – beneficial bacteria based on phylla taxonomy

8. Ecological zone
Distribution (%)
Figure 2: Ecological distribution of identified phyto-beneficial bacterial isolates

9. Fresh Water swampyforest
Table 3: Identified soil bacterial isolates based on their ecological zone
Bacterial isolates
Guinea
Savannah
Derived Savannah
Lowland Rainforest
Fresh Water swampyforest
Mangrove
Forest
Genus 1 (Myroides)
1 (TDS9)
1 (AT-IKS)
1 (IPR1)
1 (EPR4)
Genus 2 (Enterobacter)
1 (IGGR11)
1 (OSR7)
Genus 3 (Citobacter)
1 (IBS8)
Genus 4 (Stenotrophomonas)
1 (UNS9)
Genus 5 (Bacillus)
1 (ILS13)
1 (EPR7)
Genus 6 (Azomonas)
1 (ABS6)
Genus 7 (Lysinibacillus)
1 (EPR2)

10. EPR2 – Lysinibacillus sp. UNS9 – Stenotrophomonas sp.
TDS9
ILS13
OSR7
EPR2
UNS9
TDS9 – Myroides sp.
ILS13 – Bacillus sp.
OSR7 – Enterobacter sp.
EPR2 – Lysinibacillus sp.
UNS9 – Stenotrophomonas sp.
Figure 3: Map of southwestern Nigeria showing most effective phyto-beneficial bacteria per ecological zone.

11. CONCLUSION
The less number and variation observed in beneficial bacteria across and within the ecological zones could be attributed to;
(Salako et al., 2002; Eludoyin and Wokocha, 2011)
A large number of physico-chemical changes taking place in the soil which occur due to agriculture.
Soils of Southwestern Nigeria suffer physical degradation;
Such as erosion and chemical degradation, which causes nutrient loss.
These degradations can sometimes be caused by tillage, careless use of pesticides and fertilizers, and sewage slime, which eventually causes organic matter and biodiversity loss.
(Ibekwe et al., 2001; Girvan et al., 2003)

12. THANK YOU…. Acknowledgements University of Ibadan IITA, Ibadan
West Africa Res. Ass.
University of Ibadan
IITA, Ibadan
IAR&T, Ibadan
Dept. of Botany, UI
Dept. of Microbiology, UI
Finally, To God Almighty
THANK
YOU….