Numerical Taxonomy for Detecting the Azotobacterial Diversity

Azotobacter was a non-symbiont of bacteria that were abundant in the land and it able to bind free nitrogen. The bacterial diversity required a holistic integration with a variety of methods, both at the level of the community, or functional structure of the bacteria. Each member of the bacterial population had varying responses to environmental factors and phenotypic variation in accordance with it genotype, so that required a grouping or classification to facilitate the study of bacterial diversity. Through a numerical taxonomy approach will hopefully reveal the diversity of Azotobacter and it similarity relations thus it enable bundling its potential in usage as bioremoval, or as eco-friendly biofertilizer for critical land. Azotobacter was isolated from soil of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Eco Urban Farming, using selective media for Azotobacter. The Azotobacterial isolates were characterized by utilizing a numerical taxonomy method based on phenotypic characters, including morphological, biochemical and physiological characters. Based on the numerical taxonomy analysis the isolates separate into two different phenotypic groups at similarity level of 79-85%. Species members in one cluster included A5, A6, A7 that had a colony of white-beige and the other cluster with its members consist of A1a, A3 and A9 with their colonies of yellow-brown.