Organic phosphorus was accumulated in different soil parent materials, quartz sand, clays, and clay-sand mixtures by adding organic and inorganic nutrients, moistening, inoculating with soil microorganisms, and incubating the materials for several months. The presence of mesoinositol hexaphosphate and a supposed isomer of this compound was demonstrated in these materials after incubation but not before incubation. Both substances were found in soils, but only meso-inositol hexaphosphate was found in crude corn phytate. These results indicate that soil microorganisms are capable of synthesizing inositol hexaphosphate and suggest that all the supposed isomer and part of the meso-inositol hexaphosphate found in soils are synthesized by microorganisms. The remainder of the meso-inositol hexaphosphate of soils presumably is synthesized by higher plants.

The water supplied to a small test pond was chlorinated in an attempt to prevent the decline in infiltration rate associated with microbial activity in soil under prolonged submergence. The decline in rate was not eliminated; but, as the microbial population in the soil was reduced, the infiltration rate leveled off at a higher than normal rate. When chlorination was stopped, numbers of microorganisms increased rapidly, and the infiltration rate dropped sharply. Each time chlorination was resumed, numbers of microorganisms declined and some recovery in infiltration rate was obtained. Full recovery in infiltration rate, however, was never achieved even though the soil was eventually sterilized to a depth of 2 feet. Chlorine appears to have no lasting effect other than the reduction of soil organic matter content and coincident destruction of soil structure. Subsequent water spreading on the soil which has a low organic content results in lower than normal infiltration during the initial 40 days due to loss of soil structure. For periods of spreading longer than 90 days, more water will be infiltrated due to the fact that there is less organic matter, a lower level of microbial activity, and less clogging of soil pores by products of microbial metabolism.

Experiências foram realizadas com bactérias dos gêneros Listeria e Erysipelothrix, em meios líquido e sólido, utilizando o clorêto de 2, 3, 5 - trifeniltetrazólio. A atividade enzimática redutora das listérias para o TTC foi diferente da do E. rhusiopathiae, principalmente em meio líquido e nas horas iniciais de observação. Preparações feitas para microscopia ótica e electrônica dos germes tratados com TTC revelaram a presença de granulações polares, bipolares e centrais dentro do corpo das listérias. A evidenciação de granulações coradas de formazana, intracelulares nas listérias, confirma estudos anteriores quanto à possibilidade da existência de mitocôndrias nas bactérias.<br>Based on a similarity of cultural and biochemical properties, WILSON and MILLES (6) compared the microorganisms of listeriosis with those of swine erysipelas including them in the genus Erysipelothrix with the species E. monocytogenes and E. rhusiopathiae. However, BARBER (1) and JULIANELLE (4), in a comparative study of both microorganisms, do not admit that possibility. Observing the morphological and citochemical characteristics of L. monocytogenes (N.º 7 973, 5 348, 5 105, 5 214, of the Seeliger collection) and E. ehusiopathiae cultures (N.º 1, 7, 11, 27, 37, of the WIX collection), both in phase "S", we were able to verify their comparative behavior when in contact with 2-3-5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC), "Synthetical Laboratories, Chicago, U.S.A". 1. To 1,0 ml of cultures of both microorganisms grown in plain broth plus 5% horse serum for 24 hours at 37ºC, 0.1 ml of sterilized 1% aqueous solution of TTC was added. The tubes were left at room temperature (± 25ºC) or in the incubator (37ºC). In the tubes with L. monocytogenes immediately appeared a red coloration (fig. 1) characteristic of formazan production, that became gradually more pronounced, from bottom to top (figs. 2, 3, 4, 5); at the and of 24 hours the color was intense the tube. In the tubes with E. rhusiopathiae (figs. 1, 2, 3, 4), only a faint pink coloration was seen after 2 hours; at the end of 24 hours, the intensity of color was not equal to that observed in tubes with L. monocytogenes. 2. Petri dishes with 15 ml of plain agar with 5% horse serum, containing 0.1 ml of 1% sterilized aqueous solution of TTC, were inoculated with L. monocytogenes and E. rhusiopathiae, and incubated for 24 hours at 37ºC. Colonies of L. monocytogenes that developed presented a red color, indicative of formazan, as previously described by GRAY et al. (3), while the E. rhusiopathiae colonies did not show any coloration. 3. Disks of filter paper, previously soaked with TTC and dried were placed over the growth of L. monocytogenes in Petri dishes with plain agar plus 5% horse serum form 24 hours. No change in the color of the colonies was observed. The same negative result was obtained when the porous clay cylinder technique for measuring antibiotic activity was employed, With E. rhusiopathiae also negative results were obtained with the disk technique. 4. Wet preparations of the cultures after 1 hour of contact with TTC in the same conditions of item 1, were observed at 900X magnification. L. monocytogenes presented normal shape and dimensions, but one to three intracellular polar, bipolar and or central, red-purple granules were noted. E. rhusiopathiae bacilli were morphologically normal…

Heptachlor, chlordane, methoxychlor, lindane, aldrin, toxaphene, dieldrin, TDE, DDT, and BHC were applied to Arredondo fine sand at rates of 12.5, 50, and 100 ppm. of the active ingredient. The soil was placed in 2-gallon pots and maintained in a greenhouse throughout the study. The first crop of Stringless Black Valentine beans, planted 2 weeks after treatment, showed that BHC decreased germination; all other insecticides increased germination or had no effect. Root and top weights were decreased by chlordane, lindane, aldrin, dieldrin, TDE, DDT and BHC. Only top weights were reduced by methoxychlor. Heptachlor and toxaphene had no effect on growth. Germination and root growth of a second crop of beans, seeded 11 months after application of the insecticides, were not affected; top growth was significantly reduced by lindane, aldrin, TDE, DDT, and BHC. Microbial data, obtained 1 month after application of the insecticides, indicated that they had no effect on the numbers of bacteria in the soil. Dieldrin increased the numbers of fungi; all others had no effect. Carbon dioxide evolution was increased by toxaphene, dieldrin, TDE, DDT, and BHC; the others had no effect. Nitrate production was decreased by heptachlor, lindane, and BHC; increased by toxaphene, TDE, and DDT; and unchanged by the others. Sixteen months after application of the insecticides no significant changes occurred in numbers of fungi and bacteria or carbon dioxide evolution. Nitrate production was reduced by DDT and BHC. Based upon the measurements made in this study, the growth of Stringless Black Valentine beans was influenced more than the microorganisms by the presence of insecticides in the soil. Until more specific information on microbial responses to these materials has been obtained, it appears that toxicity of higher plants will be the earliest warning of phytotoxic amounts of chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides in the soil.