What are common names of soil bacteria?

Answer 1

A teaspoon of productive soil generally contains between 100 million and 1 billion bacteria. They can be classified according to the functions they perform in soil and are: Nitrogen-fixing bacteria form symbiotic associations with the roots of legumes like clover and lupine, and trees such as alder and locust. Visible nodules are created where bacteria infect a growing root hair. The plant supplies simple carbon compounds to the bacteria, and the bacteria convert nitrogen (N2) from air into a form the plant host can use. When leaves or roots from the host plant decompose, soil nitrogen increases in the surrounding area. Nitrifying bacteria change ammonium (NH4+) to nitrite (NO2-) then to nitrate (NO3-) - a preferred form of nitrogen for grasses and most row crops. Nitrate is leached more easily from the soil, so some farmers use nitrification inhibitors to reduce the activity of one type of nitrifying bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria are suppressed in forest soils, so that most of the nitrogen remains as ammonium. Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate to nitrogen (N2) or nitrous oxide (N2O) gas. Denitrifiers are anaerobic, meaning they are active where oxygen is absent, such as in saturated soils or inside soil aggregates. Actinomycetes are a large group of bacteria that grow as hyphae like fungi . They are responsible for the characteristically "earthy" smell of freshly turned, healthy soil. Actinomycetes decompose a wide array of substrates, but are especially important in degrading recalcitrant (hard-to-decompose) compounds, such as chitin and cellulose, and are active at high pH levels. Fungi are more important in degrading these compounds at low pH. A number of antibiotics are produced by actinomycetes such as Streptomyces.

Answer 2

Common names of soil bacteria include Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Rhizobium, and Agrobacterium. These bacteria play important roles in nutrient cycling, plant growth promotion, and organic matter decomposition in soil.