Plant Pellets: A Compatible Vegan Feedstock for Preparation of Plant-Based Culture Media and Production of Value-Added Biomass of Rhizobia

Hassan-Sibroe A. Daanaa, Mennatullah Abdou, Hanan A. Goda, Mohamed T. Abbas, Mervat A. Hamza, Mohamed S. Sarhan, Hanan H. Youssef, Reem Hamed, Mahmoud El-Tahan, Mohamed Fayez, Silke Ruppel and Nabil A. Hegazi
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Hassan-Sibroe A. Daanaa: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Mennatullah Abdou: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Hanan A. Goda: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Mohamed T. Abbas: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan 81528, Egypt
Mervat A. Hamza: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Mohamed S. Sarhan: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Hanan H. Youssef: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Reem Hamed: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Mahmoud El-Tahan: Regional Center for Food & Feed (RCFF), Agricultural Research Center, Giza 12619, Egypt
Mohamed Fayez: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
Silke Ruppel: Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), 14979 Grossbeeren, Germany
Nabil A. Hegazi: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-19

Abstract: Although plant-based culture media enhances in vitro cultivation of rhizobacteria, studies assessing their biomass potential for large-scale applications are lacking. Here, we advance plant pellets (PPs) as a novel technology to unlock the potential of such vegan culture media for biomass production of Rhizobium leguminosarum . PP formulations were based on mixtures of Egyptian clover powder and the agro-byproducts glycerol and molasses. These mixtures were either contained or not contained in teabags during culture media preparation. Metrics of biomass included colony forming units, optical density (OD 600nm ), and cell dry weight (DW). Biomass comparisons between culture media based on PPs and standard yeast extract mannitol (YEM) revealed that the following PPs composition, contained in teabags, cultivated rhizobia at levels comparable to YEM: 16 g clover powder, 5% molasses, and 0.8% glycerol. This PPs composition enabled shorter generation times of rhizobia (PP: 3.83 h, YEM: 4.28 h). Strikingly, PPs mixtures supplemented with 10% molasses and not contained in teabags promoted rhizobia without apparent lag phases and produced 25% greater DW than YEM. PPs potentiate the use of dehydrated vegan feedstocks for both plant microbiota cultivation and biomass production and appear as cost- and labor-effective tools, easy to handle and store for plant-based culture media preparation.

Keywords: biomass production; plant-based culture media; plant pellets; Rhizobium leguminosarum; sustainable agriculture; feedstocks for rhizobacteria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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