Acetoine and chitinase productionby native rizobacteria from Western Paraná

The objective of this study was to investigate28 strains of nativerhizobacteriafrom the west region of Paraná, evaluating the acetoin and chitinase production capacity, because of their roleinbiocontrol. Thebacteriaisolates were submitted to the modified Voges-Proskauer (VP) assayin Clark & Lubs liquid medium forglucose fermentation. Metaboliteproductionwasevaluated in a spectrophotometer,and it showed a wide variation in concentrations (0,476to1,865) for differentisolates.Strains 241, 320, 326, and 273showedhighervaluesthan the others tested. According to positive results in the qualitative test of VP, 11 isolates were chosen for the tests in minimal medium containing chitin as the only source of carbon. Isolates that presented the degradation halo formation were considered as chitinolytic bacteria, evidencing chitinaseactivity. Among these strains, two belonged tothe genus Bacillusspp. (56 and 121) and two tothe genus Enterobacterspp. (292 and 151). Therefore, the present work was able to identify native strains with potential for biocontrol studies allowing tocontinue investigations of other metabolitesproducedby thosebacteria in this collection regarding plant protection.