ASHBY’S MANNITOL AGAR

Description

Azotobacter is a genus of free-living diazotrophic bacteria which have the highest metabolic rate compared to any other microorganisms. Azotobacters are chemoorganotrophic, using sugars, alcohols and salts of organic acids for growth. Azotobacters can non-symbiotically fix atmospheric nitrogen aerobically due to their unique mode of metabolism. Besides the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, Azotobacter also synthesize biologically active substances, which attributes to improving seed germination, plant growth etc. Ashby?s Mannitol Agar are formulated as described by Subba Rao. It is used for isolation of Azotobacter, a non-symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria which uses mannitol as a carbon source and atmospheric nitrogen as nitrogen source.