Study of the effects of urban organic residues on the distribution of culturable actinomycetes in a Tunisian agricultural soil

The main objective of this investigation was to identify a collection of actinomycetes isolates and to study the influence of amendment [municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) and farmyard manure (FM)] on their distribution in agricultural soil. For this purpose, a phenotypic and molecular characterization of 226 isolates collected from soil (with and without amendment) and 55 isolates from MSWC and FM was developed. The phenotypic study showed that the majority of strains isolated belong to the genus Streptomyces. By using the 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method (restriction digest using six enzymes Alu I, Hha I, Msp I, Taq I, Rsa I and Hae III), two clusters were found: Streptomyces, dominant genus and Amycolatopsis, followed by Nocardioides. This result agreed with phylogeny revealed by 16S rDNA sequencing. The number of these actinomycetes in soil increased with FM or MSWC application. The studied soil is a potential source for isolation of actinomycetes, especially Streptomyces, and the application of organic amendment to the soil appeared to have an impact on the diversity of actinomycetes. Amendment of the soil with MSWC and FM significantly increased the number of actinomycetes due to the contribution of bacteria originally contained in biowastes and/or by stimulation of the endogenous soil micro-organisms. © The Author(s), 2009.