Abstract
Genetic and metabolic diversities of rhizobacteria are the fundamental sources for their adaptation to cope with abiotic and biotic stresses in order to enhance growth and health of plants in the soil. Thus, this study was initiated to assess the genetic and metabolic diversities of rhizobacteria isolated from plants grown in degraded soil through BOX-PCR and partial sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. A total of eighty isolates were recovered and subjected to phenotypic profiling of carbohydrate and amino acid utilization, BOX PCR and 16S rRNA profiling. The phenotypic profiling showed remarkable metabolic versatility with Ochrobactrum spp, Pseudomonas spp and Klebsiella spp, and BOX-PCR showed greater discriminatory power for fingerprinting of rhizobacterial isolates with high degree of polymorphism. Bacillus spp showed the highest Simpson's diversity Index. The 16S rRNA genes sequence assigned the rhizobacteria to phyla Proteobacteria with Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria classes and Firmicutes with Bacilli class. The data also showed that the most dominant species were Pseudomonas and Ochrobactrum. Genetic and metabolic diversities of the rhizobacterial isolates reveal the potential of these microbes for plant growth improvement under water deficient soil after testing other inoculant traits.