Development and
Evaluation of a Microbial Consortium for enhancing Fertility and Productivity in
Saline Soil
Bam Poorva Anant, Pant Prasanna Ravindra, Thube Devdatta Babanrao and Rodge Seema
Prabhudev
International Journal of Agricultural Sciences and
Veterinary Medicine;
Vol. 12(4); 14-22;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/1204ijasvm014022; (2024)
Abstract
Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is a group of stress tolerant bacteria
which possess unique properties that help in plant growth promotion under environmental
stress conditions. These bacteria are promosing alternatives to chemical fertilizers
and can be extensively used in organic farming. In this study, halotolerant microorganisms
isolated from saline agricultural soil collected from Patharvala, Maharashtra have
been investigated for their plant growth promoting ability. The isolates were qualitatively
and quantitatively analzed for their plant growth promoting traits such as nitrogenase
activity, IAA production potential, ability of phosphate solubilization, siderophore
production using Ashby’s nitrogen free medium, yeast malt dextrose medium, Pikovaskaya’s
medium and King’s B medium respectively. Salkowski’s method for quantification of
the produced IAA yielded highest concentration of 6.10 mg/ml. Siderophore production
potential of the isolates was analyzed using CAS reagent and quantified with the
maxima of 12.86 PSU.
Initially, 76 halotolerant bacteria were isolated from saline soil, out of which
three isolates belonging to the genus Azotobacter were selected based on their highest
PGPR activity and used for the preparation of inoculum for seed germination assay.
The germination rates of black eyed beans seeds with consortium, commercial biofertilizer
and control were calculated as 87.5%, 90.9% and 69.6% respectively, confirming the
effectiveness of the bacterial consortium and commercial biofertilizer for improving
seed germination compared to control in salt stress conditions.
