Designing a Waste-Based Culture Medium for the Production of Plant Growth Promoting Microorganisms Based on Cladodes Juice from Opuntia ficus-indica Pruning

The production of beneficial microorganisms is the first step to obtain a commercial-based product for application in agriculture. In this study, prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) pruning waste was evaluated as a raw material for the production of large amounts of Plant Growth Promoting Microorganisms (PGPMs) reducing the number of generated wastes. Specifically, five PGPMs constituting a synthetic microbial consortium with complementing plant growth-promoting traits were grown on a laboratory scale and, subsequently, on a pilot scale using a 21-L bioreactor. Primarily, the physical-chemical characterization of the culture medium obtained from the juice of Opuntia cladodes was carried out, revealing the presence of sugars and organic acids with different molar ratios. Compared to conventional media, the waste medium did not show significant differences in bacterial growth efficiency. Instead, the survival rates of the bacteria grown in cladodes juice media, after air-drying on zeolite or freeze-drying, were significantly higher than those observed when they were grown in conventional media. The present work is the first conducted on a pilot-scale that maximizes the production of PGPMs in submerged fermentation using cladodes juice from Opuntia, reducing both economic and environmental impacts associated with the generation of wastes.