1. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This poster reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Outlook In further experiments, main components of blue essential oil are going to be examined by GC/MS. Bacterial diversity and amount of bacterial DNA will be analyzed using 16S rDNA based single- stranded conformation polymorphism analysis (SSCP) fingerprint and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). According to this data, production of a high quality biococktail using different culturing processes such as batch, fed-batch and continuous cultures will be conducted. Different dilutions rates will be used to obtain a high product of bacterial biomass with high quality. Furthermore, different parameters such as such as oxygen uptake, CO2-outlet, oxygen consumption rate, pH values and sugar consumption rate are going to be elucidated. Outlook In further experiments, main components of blue essential oil are going to be examined by GC/MS. Bacterial diversity and amount of bacterial DNA will be analyzed using 16S rDNA based single- stranded conformation polymorphism analysis (SSCP) fingerprint and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). According to this data, production of a high quality biococktail using different culturing processes such as batch, fed-batch and continuous cultures will be conducted. Different dilutions rates will be used to obtain a high product of bacterial biomass with high quality. Furthermore, different parameters such as such as oxygen uptake, CO2-outlet, oxygen consumption rate, pH values and sugar consumption rate are going to be elucidated. Experiments and Results Production of a high quality of biococktail from beneficial bacteria MENA Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Elshahat M. Ramadan Microbiology Dept. MENA Student: Amr Mostafa European Supervisor: Dr.rer.nat. Gabriele Berg Institute for Environmental Biotechnology European Student: Ruth Schmidt Student picture Table 1: phyisco-chemical properties of the soil Approach/Method of solution Plant-associated microorganisms perform beneficial effects on plants via direct and indirect mechanisms. Microbes directly promote plant growth by improved nutrient acquisition and hormonal stimulation. Several mechanisms are involved in the suppression of plant pathogens. The aim of this study was to test already isolated and characterized strains of plant-associated microorganisms that could serve as biological control agents (BCAs) for a farm in Egypt. Six rhizospheric strains were selected for ad planta applications on German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.). The best strains are going to be selected for the production of a high quality biococktail improving the quality and quantity of organic crops as well as excluding hazard chemicals and pesticides at the same time. Approach/Method of solution Plant-associated microorganisms perform beneficial effects on plants via direct and indirect mechanisms. Microbes directly promote plant growth by improved nutrient acquisition and hormonal stimulation. Several mechanisms are involved in the suppression of plant pathogens. The aim of this study was to test already isolated and characterized strains of plant-associated microorganisms that could serve as biological control agents (BCAs) for a farm in Egypt. Six rhizospheric strains were selected for ad planta applications on German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.). The best strains are going to be selected for the production of a high quality biococktail improving the quality and quantity of organic crops as well as excluding hazard chemicals and pesticides at the same time. R UTH S CHMIDT 1 AND A MR M OSTAFA 2 1 Institute for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Technology, Graz, Austria 2 Institute for Microbiology, University of Caio, Egypt, Figure 1: Orientation of bacterial strains at Adleya farm/Sekem, Egypt. Strain 1: Streptomyces subrutilus Wb2n-11, Strain 2: Bacillus subtilis Co1-6, Strain 3: Paenibacillus polymyxa Mc5Re-14, Strain 4: Pseudomonas fluorescens L13-6-12, Strain 5: Stenotrophomonas rhizophila P69, Strain 6: Serratia plymuthia 3Re4-18, Control: Water Chromatogram A: typical apigenin-7-glucoside profile of Serratia plymuthia 3Re4-18 2. Chemical and microbial analysis For analysis of phyisco-chemical properties of the soil, electrical conductivity (E.C.), pH, organic carbon (O.C.), organic matter, total nitrogen (T.N.), total phosphorus (T.P.) and total potassium (T.K.) was determined from 35 samples, taken from each plot of the field (Table 1). Rhizospheric samples were analyzed for total bacterial and total fungal count (Figure 2). Testing of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AMF) was performed by staining the roots with trypan blue (Figure 3). 1. Bacterial inoculation One week old seedlings of the German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) were inoculated with bacterial strains Streptomyces subrutilus Wbn-11, Bacillus subtilis Co1-6, Paenibacillus polymyxa Mc5Re-14, Pseudomonas fluorescens L13-6-12, Stenotrophomonas rhizophila P69 and Serratia plymuthia 3Re4-18. According to the orientation shown in Figure 1. Figure 6: percentage of apigenin-7-glucoside 4. Compound identification Quantitative estimation of the flavone apigenin-7 glucoside in florets was performed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Chromatogram A shows a typical profile of Serratia plymuthia 3Re4-18 with the identified apigenin-7-glucoside, indicated by an arrow. A difference in the percentage of apigenin-7-glucoside could be detected. This fact shows, that bacteria have an influence on the secondary metabolism of plants. The percentages of apigenin-7-glucoside of all tested strains are shown in Figure 6. 3. Fresh and dry weight Dry and fresh weight of chamomile blossoms were determined each seven days for three times. Both, fresh and dry weight Serratia plymuthia 3Re4-18, Bacillus subtilis Co1-6 and Paenibacillus polymyxa Mc5Re-14 showed the highest yield compared to the control (Figure 4 and Figure 5). According to the treatment, however, the content of moisture was different. Figure 5: percentage of dry weightFigure 4: percentage of fresh weight Figure 3: stained arbuscular mycorrhiza (AMF)Figure 2: bacterial diversity in the rhizosphere