- In the present study thermophilic actinomycetes isolates were isolated from Thar desert of India. Identification of four actinomycetes isolates were done by various morphological and biochemical tests. All the isolates were screened for the presence of extracellular enzyme and bio-surfactant production potential. The results showed that the isolates namely TDI-7, TDI-10, TDI-12, TDI-13 showed the presence of extracellular enzymes and bio-surfactant activity. Isolate TDI-7 and TDI-12 showed the presence of protease production whereas in TDI-10, TDI-12, TDI-13 amylase activity was reported. Lipase activity was found absent in all the isolates. Significant bio-surfactant activity was reported against TDI-13. Further molecular identification of these four isolates were done by partial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis which showed 95-99 % similarities of references sequences TDI-7 with Streptomyces sp., TDI-10 is with Streptomyces sp., TDI-12 with Streptomyces variabilis strain and TDI-13 with Streptomyces rubiginosus during NCBI blast.

Soils vary in reaction, which directly correlates with availability of one of the major plant nutrients i.e. Phosphorous. Acid soil infertility mainly associated with fixed phosphates of Al and Fe, restrict the soluble P for crop uptake. Besides liming, P- solubilizing bacteria with the capacity to dissociate these Al and Fe bound P is the next viable alternative for sustainable agriculture. GPS based twenty (20) nos. of soil samples (pH ≤ 5.50) from coastal district, Cuttack of Odisha were analyzed and in all 36 native PSB isolates were selected out of which nine (9) isolates with higher P solubilization efficiency were further screened in liquid NBRIP broth supplemented with inorganic phosphates of Calcium, Aluminium, Iron (III) and Iron (II). Identification of PSBs by using TCP usually produces many, but only few are true PSBs. Since soils greatly vary by pH, hence there is a need to identify native and potential isolate with ability to solubilize the phosphates of Al and Fe in acidic soils. Thus the present study aim to establish the P solubilizing efficiency of some PSB strains with inorganic P compounds of Ca, Al, Fe (III) and Fe (II). The native strain CTC12 was observed to have significantly maximum P solubilizing potential with all the inorganic phosphates. Based on the biochemical and molecular characterization (16s rDNA sequencing) isolate CTC12 was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain CTC12 (NCBI accession no. KT633845).