RhizoPlates for Microbial Selection in Sustainable Agriculture

The RhizoPlate™ series of microplates provides a targeted and easy-to-use solution for detecting, ranking, and monitoring nitrogen-fixing & phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (NFB/PSB) within the rhizosphere.

Key Features
Workflow
Applications
Plate Info
Key Features
  • Advancing Sustainable Agriculture: Simplifying Biostimulant product development to reduce use of synthetic fertilizers.
  • Comprehensive Analysis: Select for and evaluate NFB/PSB capability from bacterial isolates, microbial communities, and complex soil samples. Measure growth under a range of conditions at the same time to identify and evaluate the most robust strains or communities. 
  • Streamlined Relative Quantification: Kinetic optical density (OD) measurements based on the resultant growth from N2 or inorganic phosphate utilization are used to rapidly assess and compare the performance of NFB/PSB, which is ideal for strain screening.
  • Persistence Monitoring: Track NFB/PSB  in soil over time to guide cost-effective biostimulant dosing in the field.
  • Scalable Throughput: Seamlessly integrates with the Odin platform for small-scale (Odin VIII) or higher-throughput (Odin L) screening operations, with powerful software for actionable insights.

    Turnkey Solution:
  • RhizoPlate N includes a 96-well plate pre-loaded with 30 carbon substrates in triplicate, specifically selected to support the unique growth requirements of NFB and a nitrogen-free inoculating fluid. 
  • RhizoPlate P provides a 96-well microplate uniformly coated with insoluble inorganic phosphate, and pre-loaded with 30 carbon substrates in triplicate, selected to support the unique growth requirements of PSB and a phosphate-free inoculating fluid.
Workflow

A soil sample, community, or isolate is plated in triplicate across the microplates’ three identical sectors using their corresponding phosphate- or nitrogen-free IF.

The plate is transferred to the Odin instrument for incubation and kinetic OD590 measurements, where cells must use insoluble phosphate or fix nitrogen to grow.

Average Well-Growth Development (AWGD) data, calculated by Odin software, is used to screen phosphate solubilization or nitrogen fixation performance across many samples easily.

applications

Screening and Selecting Isolates: 

  • Rapidly screen through large strain collections
  • Rank candidates 
  • Compare nitrogen fixation or phosphate solubilizing performance
  • Select engineered strains to move forward for additional analysis

Communities: 

  • Analyze complex soil microbial communities
  • Develop biostimulants that combine complementary species or strains for broader substrate utilization
  • Evaluate and compare the performance of multiple microbial communities on a single, integrated platform

Monitoring Persistence in Soil: 

  • Monitor the presence of Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria and Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria in agricultural fields
  • Track PSB/NFB persistence over time
  • Ensure optimal biostimulant dosing
  • Maintain cost-effectiveness in application of new biostimulant products
Combined list of substrates

2,3-Butanediol Acetic Acid Adonitol 
Citric Acid 
D,L-α-Glycerol Phosphate 
D,L-Lactic Acid 
D-Fructose 
D-Galactose 
D-Galacturonic Acid 
D-Gluconic Acid 
D-Glucuronic Acid 

D-Mannitol 
D-Mannose 
D-Saccharic Acid 
D-Trehalose
Formic Acid 
Glucose-6-Phosphate 
Glycerol 
Glycogen 
i-Erythritol 
L-Alanine

 

L-Arabinose 
L-Asparagine 
L-Aspartic Acid 
L-Fucose 
L-Glutamic Acid 
L-Histidine 
L-Phenylalanine 
L-Proline 
L-Pyroglutamic Acid 
L-Rhamnose 

Maltose 
myo-Inositol 
Polysorbate 80
Propionic Acid 
Succinic Acid 
Sucrose 
Urocanic Acid 
α-D-Glucose 
α-D-Lactose 
α-Keto-Valeric Acid

RhizoPlate flyer
RhizoPlate Plate Map
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