Molecular and immunological approaches are useful for monitoring the localization of microrganism used as agricultural inoculants. A successful example is the use of a diazotrophic bacteria, as soybean in Brazil. However, as diazotrophic bacterias other than rizobium do not form nodular structures, the localization of the specific site where nitrogen reduction occurs is impossible. In this study, carried out at Embrapa Agrobiology, a polyclonal antibody against Azospirillum amazonense (As-Am15) was to produced and characterized through an indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Maize seedscoated with peat containing the target bacterium were enoculated with the policlonal antibody and evaluated during 60 days. The antibody was able to quantify bacteria populations in samples where the minimal cell number were superior to 100,000 cells L-1. According to these results, the policlonal antibody As-Am15 showed high specificity to the target antigen and was able to quantify or monitor Azospirillum strains and able to be used as a control of the quality of a peat inoculant product.
immunology; antibodies; diazotrophic bacteria
