Application of moderately haloalkaliphilic nonsymbiotic diazotrophs of Lonar lake to saline soils

Raut A.A.¹*, Butale S.V.², Sawant T.B.^3
1P.G. Department of Microbiology, Yashwantrao Chavan college of Science, Karad, Vidyanagar, Karad, 415 124. MS, India
²P.G. Department of Microbiology, Yashwantrao Chavan college of Science, Karad, Vidyanagar, Karad, 415 124. MS, India
³P.G. Department of Microbiology, Yashwantrao Chavan college of Science, Karad, Vidyanagar, Karad, 415 124. MS, India
* Corresponding Author : avinashraut@aol.in

Received : -     Accepted : -     Published : 21-12-2010
Volume : 2     Issue : 2       Pages : 1 - 4
Int J Microbiol Res 2.2 (2010):1-4
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.9735/0975-5276.2.2.1-4

Keywords : agriculture, nonsymbiotic, diazotrophs, meteorite, haloalkaliphilic
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : The authors are thankful to Principal and Management of College for providing the facilities for this Research work

India is an agriculture based country and most of the Indian economy relies on agriculture. Western Maharashtrian soil is rich in humus which ensures better yield to the cash crops. Asymbiotic nitrogen fixing microorganisms play an important role in converting atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia in such soils to increase its fertility. But unfortunately many hectares of soil in this region are deposited with salts which render the land barren. Most of the agricultural land in India has become barren due to accumulation of excessive salts. Predominant nitrogen fixing bacteria in salt deposited soils find it difficult to fix atmospheric nitrogen due to high pH and salinity. Keeping this drastic situation in view, it was thought to isolate moderately haloalkaliphilic nonsymbiotic diazotrophs from Lonar Lake which is rich in salts and alkalinity. Lonar Lake is saline and alkaline lake formed due to meteorite impact some 52,000 years ago. Primary studies were carried to apply the same isolated diazotrophs into such salt deposited barren soil by pot experiments. Six nonsymbiotic diazotrophs isolated from Lonar Lake were applied on saline soils during pot experiments conducted in the polyhouse. Physical characters of the plants grown in pots, morphological characteristics, pesticide resistance potential and tolerance of the obtained isolates to various NaCl concentrations are presented in this paper.

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