Survival of an Actinomycete in a Carbonized Rice Hull-Based Carrier

Abstract

Carbonized rice hull (CRH) is an alternative to wood charcoal as a carrier component in making inoculants. Being a waste product in rice farming, the use of CRH is more practical and environment-friendly. This study determined the survival of an actinomycete in a CRH-based carrier. Its cell population was counted periodically up to 250 days of incubation using the spread plate method. The initial population of 2.2 x 104 cfu/g increased to 2.9 x 107 cfu/g (135, 160%) 5 days after inoculation (DAI). However, number of cells decreased to 1.5 x 107 cfu/g 170 DAI, gradually increasing to a final population of 1.8 x 107 cfu/g at 250 DAI; 8.17 x 107 percent of the initial population remained viable in the CRH-based carrier. The survival of the actinomycete demonstrates the potential of CRH as inoculant carrier. However, which carrier can sustain high populations of the actinomycete has yet to be determined. Keywords - Microbiology, actinomycete, survival, CRH-Based carrier, Nueva Ecija, Philippines