Abstract
In this present study the population dynamics of the soil bacteria of some coastal villages, namely Padima, Jatimati, Chanpabani, Palsandapur, Bhagibaharampur, Duttapur, Gangadharpur, Gobindabasan, Somaibasan of Digha, West Bengal, India, was determined. In these villages the aerobic heterotrophic, Gram-negative, spore-forming, starch-hydrolyzing, Pseudomonas, nitrate-reducing, denitrifying, asymbiotic N(2) fixing, nitrifying, phosphate-solubilizing bacterial populations ranged from 1.22 to 2.67 × 10(6), 0.09-1.63 × 10(5), 1.53-3.68 × 10(5), 2.22-4.06 × 10(5), 0.02-0.04 × 10(5), 0.35-1.33 × 10(5), 0.07-0.82 × 10(5), 0.58-2.50 × 10(5), 0.13-2.35 × 10(5), 0.05-1.9 × 10(5) cfu/g dry soil, respectively. The organic carbon content of the soil samples ranged from 0.61 to 0.93 %. The available nitrogen and phosphate in the soils of the study area varied from 11.2 to 29.5 and 230.8-503.09 mg/kg, respectively. The one-way ANOVA revealed significant variations (p < 0.05) in the microbial diversity with respect to different locations of the study site. Shannon-Wiener and Simpson Index of the study areas ranged from 1.56 to 1.88 and 3.85-5.73, respectively. Jatimati showed comparatively higher diversity index among the villages of the study area. From principal component analysis, three components were extracted having the Eigen values of 3.541, 1.603 and 1.391, respectively. Agglometric hierarchial cluster analysis in respect of the number of different bacterial groups in different places of the study area showed that the denitrifying, nitrate reducing, asymbiotic nitrogen-fixing and spore-forming bacteria formed a cluster while Pseudomonas differed from them forming another cluster and nitrifying, Gram negative, phosphate-solubilising and starch-hydrolyzing bacteria formed another different cluster. This variation of the soil bacteria might be dependent on the microhabitat present in different locations of the study area.