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.

The name Lantibiotics was introduced in 1988 as an abbreviation for "Lanthionine-containing peptide antibiotics". In spite of this naming, Lantibiotics are not classed as antibiotics. The first structures of these antimicrobial agents were produced by pioneering work by Gross and Morell in the late sixties and early seventies, thus marking the formal introduction of Lantibiotics. Since then Lantibiotics such as Nisin have been for food preservation and have yet to encounter significant bacterial resistance. These attributes of lantibiotics have led to more detailed research into them.

A total of 117 actinomycetes strains were isolated from the wasteland alkaline and garden soil samples of the Ghaziabad and screened for their anti-bacterial activity. They were evaluated for their inhibitory activities on four test microorganisms. Fifteen actinomycetes isolate which exhibited antimicrobial activity against at least two of the test organisms and were characterized by conventional methods. The cultural characteristics of isolates were also studies in different culture media. The results indicated that six isolates were highly active against Staphylococcus aureus strains. Seven isolates were highly active with an inhibition zone more than 20 mm in diameter. Most of the isolates inhibited growth of the Gram negative bacteria tested. All the antibiotic producing actinomycetes were isolated at different temperatures from non agricultural wasteland alkaline soil and compost rich garden soil. Fifteen isolates showed activity against bacteria in which most of them from wasteland alkaline soil where the less interference by human for agriculture or other purpose. These microorganisms may have capability to produce some of the most important medicines ever developed.

Cyanobacteria offer an economically and ecologically sound alternative to chemical fertilizers for realizing the ultimate goal of increased productivity, especially in rice cultivation. There is however, a growing concern about the adverse effects of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers on soil productivity and environmental quality. A comparative study between the NR activity and biomass of six Anabaena strains isolated from paddy field soils of Ganjam district in presence of pH, temperature, copper& molybdenum, NaNO3, NH4Cl, and Urea is being conducted to present a situation where NR activity and biomass may be affected under varied concentration. Maximum NR activity was observed in Anabaena sp. at pH 8.5 and 35oC temperature while Anabaena circinalis showed minimum activity in same concentration. Biomass content was maximum in Anabaena variabilis at pH 8.5 where as at temperature 35oC in Anabaena flos-aquae and minimum biomass observed in Anabaena iyengarii at same concentration. NR activity in relation to copper was maximum in Anabaena sp. at 2 ıg/l while minimum in Anabaena circinalis at same concentration. At 0.5μg/l molybdenum content in the culture medium showed maximum NR activity in Anabaena sp and reduced in all strains with increase of concentration. Anabaena flos-aquae showed minimum NR activity at 0.1mM concentration of NaNO3 while Anabaena circinalis showed minimum NR activity at same concentration of NH4Cl. The NR activity was observed minimum at 3mM concentration of Urea in A. cylindrica. The activity of NR and biomass in all the strains was influenced by external NH4 -and NO3 +and Urea concentration.

The S-layer, crystalline arrays of proteinaceous subunits, seems to be a typical surface structure in several lactobacilli species. Due their self-assembly ability to recrystallize into isoporous monolayers in suspension, at liquid-surface interfaces, lipid structures and on solid supports, S-layers were demonstrated to possess a great potential for nanobiotechnological applications. Interest in lactobacilli S-layer has been reinforced by claimed and demonstrated probiotic properties for human and animal consumers. Several lactobacillar S-layer have been found to be involved in adherence to intestinal epithelial cells and to the mammalian extracellular matrix. Due to these observed adhesive properties, the possible therapeutic applications of lactobacillar S-layers have become increasingly of interest, e.g. as targeted antigen delivery vehicles to host tissues. In addition, S-layers may provide superior expression levels and surface density of antigens when compared to other bacterial antigen presentation systems. It has already been demonstrated that S-layer protein subunits can be modified to carry foreign epitopes as a uniform recombinant S-layer on the Lactobacillus cell surface. The adhesion and immunogenic functions of S-layer proteins, combined with the properties of Lactobacillus spp., could lead to new, safe, and stable liposomal particles for drug delivery.

Cellulose is degraded by three major classes of hydrolases. These three classes have been isolated and purified from fungi. They range widely in temperature and pH optima, but the most common enzymes are most active at pH 5.5, 55oC.Three cellulases are of interest: 1) endoglucanase (carboxymethyl cellulase or CMCase), 2) cellobiohydrolase (CBH or filter paper activity) and 3) β- glucosidase. Endoglucanase (CMCase) attacks randomly in the interior of the cellulose structure. It is not very active against crystalline cellulose, but they are capable of hydrolyzing substituted cellulose such as carboxymethyl cellulose. It produces cellulodextrins also known as cellulooligosaccharides. Cellobiohydrolase (CBH) also known as exocellulase attacks crystalline cellulose from the non-reducing end and produces cellobiose. β-glucosidase hydrolyses cellobiose to glucose.