Soil Enrichment and Development of Antagonistic Microorganisms

Abstract

The enrichment of soil with suspensions of living bacteria affects only to a limited extent the qualitative composition of the microbiol. population of the soil, as detd. by the plate method, although it may markedly influence its relative abundance in the soil. Any increase in the development of specific groups of organisms following the addition of suspensions of bacterial cells may merely indicate the ability of such organisms to attack the living or dead bacterial cell substance; proof is still lacking that any organisms thus stimulated in the soil are antagonistic to the added bacteria or produce antibiotic agents active against such bacteria.