Plant growth promoting and anti-plant pathogenic activity of bioformulation – BIOFERT

Excessive use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides in agriculture over the years resulted into poor soil quality and fertility. Chemical insecticides and anti-plant pathogenic compounds are xenobiotic. These have bioaccumulation effect and thus have adverse impact on the food chain due to which sustainable approaches for making fertilizers are increasingly becoming popular. In this study we made an attempt to make a bioformulation having plant growth promoting and anti-plant pathogenic properties. Bacteria such as Azotobacter, Rhizobium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa having plant growth promoting (PGP) properties were isolated from soil sample using congo red yeast extract mannitol agar and Ashby's agar. Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed production of maximum plant growth promoting substances such as Indole acetic acid, HCN (hydrogen cyanide), siderophores, ammonia, nitrate reduction, phosphate solubilisation property and exoplysaccharide (EPS) production. Different biofertilizer formulation (BIOFERT-Azo, BIOFERT-Rhizo, BIOFERT-Pseudo and BIOFERT-RAP) were prepared as mentioned in the literature using above PGP bacteria along with different plant leaves known to have anti-insecticidal and anti-plant pathogenic properties. Total nitrogen, phosphorus and ammonia content in the bioformulation were determined. BIOFERT RAP was having the highest content for N, P and NH3which was 0.337 %, 442.58 mg/l and 99.4mg/l respectively. Effect of various BIOFERT on the growth of the Vigna radiata (mung bean) in comparison with positive controls having commercial PGP substances- Agrilabh-RIZ and Agrilabh-AZO, vermicompost and diammonium phosphate (DAP) and negative control without adding any plant growth promoting substance was analysed at lab scale. Bioformulation prepared was tested on growth of rice at field scale. The biofurmulation is completely organic, and can play a important role in todays Organic farming.