Paper Title
USAGE OF IMMOBILIZED STREPTOMYCES AS AN INOCULANT TO PROMOTE THE GROWTH OF CHILI

Abstract
Abstract - Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and ammonia (NH3) synthetic actinomycetes were isolated from soils collected in Nakhon Pathom province of Thailand, and used a selected strain as inoculum to enhance the growth of chili (Capsicum frutescens). A total of 4 actinomycete isolates produced the amounts of IAA and NH3 ranging between 5.56±0.13 to 14.98±0.16 μg/ml and 2.34±0.10 to 6.22±0.19 mM/l, respectively. Isolate KPSC21 produced the highest amounts of IAA and NH3 which differed significantly from those of other isolates. For characterization of each isolate, the genetic relatedness amongst the isolates was analyzed by using DNA fingerprinting techniques. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis and Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction (ERIC PCR) generated specific patterns corresponding to particular genotypes. The DNA fingerprinting results showed that each actinomycetes isolate could be classified as the different strains. According to morphological and chemotaxonomic characterization as well as 16S rDNA analysis, isolate KPSC21 belonged to the genus Streptomyces. Determination on the potential of Streptomyces sp. strain KPSC21 as inoculum to promote the growth of chili, all inoculation treatments significantly increased shoot and root dry weights of chili up to 1.55 and 2.09-fold respectively when compared with uninoculated control. Keywords - Streptomyces, Inoculant, Plant growth promoter, Chili