Characterization of Bacterial Strains Isolated from a Novel Seawater-based Retting Treatment of Hemp

Cultivable bacteria were isolated from seawater-based retting treatment of hemp, in which three of purified strains (SW- 1, SW- 2, and S-SW1) produced relatively high levels of pectinase activities, and also produced mannanases and xylanases. PCR-based entebacterial repetitive intergenic consensus primers (ERIC-PCR) were employed for fingerprinting DNA of the bacterial strains. The ERIC-PCR fingerprints of stains SW- 1, SW- 2, and S-SW1 were found to be different, and should be further identified for each isolate. Strains SW- 1 and SW- 2 were identified as Stenotrophomnas maltophilia, while strain S-SW1 was assigned to Ochrobactrum anthropi by BIOLOG system. These two species represented rhizosphere bacterial genera, and possibly were introduced by the hemp plants. These organisms seemed potentially capable of producing pectinase and hemicellulase, and thus effectively degrading the gum substances in the seawater retting. This research could be helpful for improving a novel seawater-based retting treatment of hemp.