Soil microflora of the rhizosphere of plants from several habitats in the botanical garden in Poznań.

The abundance and activity of certain groups of soil microorganisms were estimated in the rhizosphere of 13 plants from four different habitats at several dates. An additional study was made of the rhizosphere microflora of Ledum palustre from a peat-bog. Numbers of proteolytic, nitrate assimilating, denitrifying, and cellulolytic bacteria were estimated. The intensity of ammonification, nitrification and Clostridium growth was estimated. The studies have revealed that the abundance and the activity of all the groups of bacteria studied depended on the habitat. Within one habitat, however, the influence of the plant was sometimes more pronounced than that of the habitat itself, particularly on the abundance of proteolytic bacteria (Fig. 1). The date of sampling had very little effect on the abundance of all the bacterial groups studied except the cellulolytic bacteria.