2.3. Chloroform sensitivity

For chloroform sensitivity, 10 ml of filtered phage suspension were mixed with 1.0% chloroform (v/v), shaken vigorously for 1 min, and the solution kept at 28 ± 2 °C for 24 h. The suspension was then centrifuged and supernatant was filtered through 0.22 μm pore size membrane filter. The filtered solution was mixed with 0.1 ml rhizobial culture in 3 ml melted YMA (45 °C), and over-layered on previously prepared YMA plates to know surviving phage particles (pfu/ml).