Difference between Rhibozobium and Azotobacter
No. | Rhibozobium |
Azotobacter |
1. | Primarily a gram negative, symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacterium, non-sporulating rod, motile which requires a plant host is referred as Rhizobium. | A free living nitrogen fixing bacteria and heterotrophic which is present in alkaline and neutral soils is referred as Azotobacter. |
2. | Martinus Willem Beijerinck was the one who firstly isolated Rhizobium. | Russian microbiologist Nikolai Krasilnikov was the one who firstly identified Azotobacter. |
3. | Rhizobium is present in the soil where it produces nodules in legume after infection. | Azotobacter are present in the Antarctic and the Arctic soils. |
4. | Shape of Rhizobium is rod shaped. | Shape of Azotobacter is of spherical or oval shaped. |
5. | Rhizobium contains three types of nitrogenase enzymes and are vanadium nitrogenase, molybdenum nitrogenase and iron-only nitrogenase. | Azotobacter contains only one type of nitrogenase enzyme which is molybdenum nitrogen enzyme. |
6. | Rhizobium belongs to class Alphaproteobacteria. | Azotobacter belongs to the class Gammaproteobacteria. |
7. | Rhizobium can synthesize active biological substances like alginate and auxin. | Azotobacter cannot synthesize active biological substances like alginate and auxin. |