dc.description.abstract | This study, within the Research Line Preservation and Management of Ecosystems and Wildlife, aims at the assessment of the quality of the irrigation water, and the bacilli diversity in various flooded areas in rice growing fields in Rio Grande do Sul. (RS). Water samples were collected in five rice-producing areas: Campaign, Northern Littoral, Southern Littoral, Central Depression and Western Border, corresponding to the Dom Pedrito, Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Camaquã, Cachoeira do Sul and Uruguaiana counties, respectively. Trials of microbiological analysis of the water quality, isolation, multiplication and characterization of the water samples were carried out at the Microbiology Laboratory of UNISINOS. The obtained results for the analysis of the water microbiological quality show that the indexes of total coliforms recorded in the five regions were higher than the ones of fecal coliforms which, when present in the samples were found in low frequencies. The bacilli quantitative analysis showed a higher frequency of bacteria in the vegetative phase, of which the value was decreased in the reproduction phase of the paddy rice culture, with the identification of 18 bacilli species in the previously mentioned samples. The analysis result which compares the diversity indexes point to the lack of a significant difference among the indexes for the five rice growing areas (F2,4=1,600; P>0,05), and between the irrigation channels and the cultivation plots (F2,4=1,392; P>0,05). The most abundant bacterial genera in the water samples were Bacillus, Corynebacterium, and Lactobacillus. Microbiological data from this research will subsidize the knowledge of the microbiota of the shallow waters in the rice growing areas of RS and the management of the paddy rice agroecosystem, as well. | pt_BR |