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Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 003
Bacteria, Diazotrophs, Phosphate solubilising microbes, Weedy grasses
The present investigation hypothesizes that the weedy grass species grown in different physiographic regions do harbour potential microbes and shows lot of scope for the identification of novel functional microbes. In the present study, diazotrophic bacteria were isolated from rhizosphere of ten selected grass species and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The isolates were belonging to the members of alpha Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. Phosphorus solubilizing traits of all the selected diazotrophic isolates were analysed and results revealed that all the diazotrophs were found to solubilise phosphorous in qualitative assay. Influence of phosphorus solubilizing organisms on the pH, titrable acidity, available phosphorus and phosphatase enzyme production were studied. Maximum amount of available phosphorus and phosphatase activity was observed in Klebsiella sp. (OR7) (0.96 ± 0.09 µg/ml) and Staphylococcus saprophyticus (OR5) (12.9 ±0.10 µg of PNP released/ml/day) respectively. The present compilation of diverse diazotrophs along with phosphorous solubilisation potential suggests that these particular organisms can promote plant growth by more than one mechanism and that these traits could be better exploited as bio-inoculants.