[Luminescent-microscopic study of soil microorganisms]

Soil microorganisms can be quantitatively assayed by means of a technique which makes use of staining preparations on slides with acridine orange. When bacterial cells were counted daily in humus-gleisolic soil, their number did not depend on time if the soil was incubated for five days. Mixed soil samples corresponding to the same time of incubation differed reliably in the bacterial number. The paper presents a scheme for determining the necessary number of samples, preparations, and fields of vision when the number of bacteria is being estimated. It is expedient to take 7 samples from a soil mixture, to make 2 preparations out of each sample, and to count bacteria in 5 fields of vision for each preparation.