0 present participle of nitrify --
1 to add nitrogen or one of its compounds to something, for example to soil in order to make it produce healthier plants --
Nitrifying bacteria turn the ammonium compounds into nitrites and then into nitrates for plant absorption.
Nitrifying organisms are chemoautotrophs, and use carbon dioxide as their carbon source for growth.
Typical autotrophic bacteria are phototrophic cyanobacteria, green sulfur-bacteria and some purple bacteria, but also many chemolithotrophic species, such as nitrifying or sulfur-oxidising bacteria.
Putrefying bacteria is one of the main processes in the nitrogen cycle; other than putrefying bacteria there are denitrifying bacteria, nitrifying bacteria and nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
This approach was successfully used to reveal that some ammonium oxidizing bacteria, also called nitrifying bacteria use urea as a carbon source in soil.
Biological filters provide a medium specially designed for colonization by the desired nitrifying bacteria.
The ability of nitrifying organisms to degrade some pollutants may make these organisms attractive for controlled bioremediation in nitrifying soils and waters.
He was responsible for the first isolation and description of both nitrifying and nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
