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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/SAgri/16
Developing microbial biofertilizers for leguminous and non-leguminous crops

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Zunaira Arif , Sohail Hameed , Naheed Malik , Bibi Norin
Department of Biosciences, University of Wah, Wah Cantt Pakistan
Correspondence: dr.sohail.hameed@uow.edu.pk
Abstract

Biofertilizers are microbial based organic fertilizers having long lasting effect on the fertility
of soil. The term biofertilizer can be defined as formulations comprised of living microbial
cells, either a single strain or multiple strains (consortia) that promote plant growth by
increasing nutrient availability. Nonetheless, biofertilizers can also provide other direct and
indirect benefits for plant growth, such as Phyto stimulation, abiotic stress tolerance and
biocontrol. Biofertilizers supplement nutrients mainly by fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, by
phosphorus solubilization and by synthesizing plant growth-promoting substances. In
leguminous plants, (Brady)rhizobium is present which is a Gram-negative soil bacterium that
colonizes to form root nodules. Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR) are free living bacteria
which increase plant growth. Total three (3) soil bacteria were isolated and purified from root
nodules of groundnut and rhizosphere of maize. Out of which two (2) were (Brady)rhizobium
and one (1) was PGPR, from plant and soil samples collected from tropical rainfed arid region
of Punjab Province Fatehjang of Pakistan lying between33°10’ and 33°45’North and 72°23’
and 73°1’ East. Bacterial isolates were characterized for colony and cell morphology, their
biochemical characterization for catalase, starch hydrolysis and plants growth promoting traits
i.e. phosphorus solubilization, indole acetic acid production, nitrogen fixation and zinc
mobilization. It was found out that three (3) isolates were nitrogen fixers indicated by color
change. Two(2) of them was zinc mobilizer. None of them was phosphorus solubilizer. Two
of them produced phytohormone indicating positive results of indole acetic acid.
Keywords: Leguminous; Non-Leguminous Crops; (Brady)rhizobium.

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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