Habitat selection of breeding birds in an urban environment, Sulur, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India

Abstract :

In the development and implementation of sustainable agricultural techniques, biofertilization is of great importance. One of the most interesting non-symbiotic bacteria that have great potential for use in production of biofertilizers is Azotobacter chroococcum, due to its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The present work was carried out to study the effect of Azotobacter species on growth of Basella alba. Totally 10 Azotobacter isolates (5 from marine sediments and 5 from garden soil) were isolated. A pot experiment was conducted in glass house for 90 days under green house conditions. Each Azotobacter isolate was separately added to the pot as per the treatment allocation. B. alba seeds were sown in each pot including control. The influence of Azotobacter isolates on the growth and biomass of B. alba has been reported. The physical parameters of B. alba was significantly increased in the inoculated treatments at 30, 60 and 90 days after treatment compared to uninoculated control plants. On the 90th day after treatment, the isolate MS-1 and GS-1 recorded maximum plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, fresh and dry weight which is followed by MS-4 and GS4 isolate. Plants inoculated with different isolates of Azotobacter species revealed increase in chlorophyll content and NPK content compared to uninoculated control plants. The highest amount of chlorophyll (1.94±0.01, 1.92±0.09 SD), nitrogen (6.50±0.01, 6.42±0.006 SD), phosphorus (0.200±0.001, 0.192±0.006 SD) and potassium (2.98±0.08, 2.94±0.04 SD) content was observed in the plants treated with MS-1 and GS-1 isolate. Comparatively MS-1 isolate was more efficient than GS1. Results of the present study revealed enhanced growth, biomass, chlorophyll, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of B. alba due to inoculation with Azotobacter strains.