Density Centrifugation Method for Recovering Rhizobium spp. from Soil for Fluorescent-Antibody Studies

A density centrifugation procedure has been developed as a replacement for soil flocculation and clarification steps employed in quantitative fluorescent-antibody studies on Rhizobium in soils. Near-quantitative recovery of added cells of two strains of Rhizobium japonicum and two strains of R. phaseoli was achieved from six soils with various properties. It is proposed that this technique may prove useful in separating other soil microorganisms from soil particles in ecological studies employing fluorescent-antibody techniques.