Zinc Solubilizing Rhizobacteria Associated with Sugarcane from South Gujarat Region

Kajal Ghevariya, Pratibha Desai

Abstract: Zinc is a one of the eight essential micronutrients required for the normal healthy growth and reproduction of crop plants. Zinc deficiency in an agricultural soil is well-studied and wide spread problem worldwide. This study on zinc solubilization by bacteria has an immense importance in zinc nutrition to plant particularly in fields having alkaline soils as observed in present study. Among 309 isolates, 141 isolates were positive for zinc solubilization. Considering the quantitative aspects solubilization efficiency of bacterial isolates was ranged from (116-366) for 0.1 % zinc oxide incorporated in the medium. Based on solubilization efficiency five isolates with highest Zn solubilization efficiency were chosen for multiple plant growth promoting traits from which BM/F1/ER/8, NFM/F2/RP/15, and KBM/F4/RH/5 have multiple plant growth promoting traits can be exploited as a potential biofertilizers.

Keywords: Zinc solubilization, Zinc oxide, Biofertilizer