Sudden deaths without any specific clinical sign occurred among one year old young ones on Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) farms in Hainan province, China, during winter and spring in 2012 - 2013. The autopsy showed that the internal organs seemed normal except full of clear ascites in abdominal cavity. There were total six bacterial species isolated, Edwardsiella tarda, Proteus penneri, Proteus vulgaris, Enterobacter asburiae, Citrobacter freundii and Micrococcus luteus from either the heart bloods or the spleens and livers. The virulence of isolated strains was tested by intraperitoneal inoculation in female Chinese edible frogs (Rana rugulosa or Hoplobatrachus rugulosus). The six-day mortality revealed that E. tarda was the most pathogenic, whereas P. penneri and E. asburiae exhibited no infection at all, and the rest demonstrated similar inconspicuous toxicity. All these findings suggest that E. tarda would be the principal suspect causing death of Siamese crocodile. The sensitivities of the E. tarda isolates were tested against 20 kinds of antimicrobial drugs. The results showed that ceftazidime, norfloxacin and amikacin were highly sensitive to the isolates of E.tarda.

An investigation of sudden death in farmed infant&nbsp;Siamese&nbsp;crocodiles during winter and spring in Hainan, China

<div>Background: Bacterial endophytes lives in internal tissues of root, stem and leaves of grain amaranth plants. Isolation and screening of efficient bacterial endophytes for plant growth promotion, biocontrol activities and drought tolerance can develop as suitable bioinoculants for alleviate drought and stress tolerance and plant growth promotion. 
 
Methods:&nbsp;Bacterial endophytes were isolated from grain amaranth (Amaranthus spp) and all isolates were screened for nitrogen fixation, phosphorous solubilisation, growth hormone production and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase production. Molecular identification of bacterial isolates was done by 16S rRNA sequencing to identify the organisms. 
 
Result: Seventeen isolates showed high growth in N-free media and nine isolates could efficiently solubilize phosphates. Two isolates significantly produced higher concentrations of gibberellins, maximum number of bacterial isolates produced Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and eight isolates were able to produce cytokinins. Fifteen isolates have shown positive for ACC activity [1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase production] in grain amaranth and five bacterial isolates (RAR-5, RAS-3, RAL-7, WAR-1 and WAS-11) have significant plant growth promoting activities compared to others. Further, significant bacterial isolates were identified as Alcaligenes faecalis subsp. phenolicus, Pseudomonas moorei, Bacillus siamensis, Bacillus cereus and Acromobacter deleyi by 16S rRNA gene sequencing.</div>

An investigation of sudden death in farmed infant Siamese crocodiles during winter and spring in Hainan, China

Isolation and Identification of Bacterial Endophytes from Grain Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus) for Plant Growth Promotion