Isolation of Saline Tolerant Pgpr (ST-PGPR) From Sinking Island of Ghoramara

Abstract

Soil salinity, a global issue, is a threat to the agricultural crops. The deposition of excess salt in the soil reduces the growth, development and yield of crops. Initially techniques like leaching and flushing were applied to reclaim such salt infested soil. However, the success rate was low and it greatly affected the agroecosystem. This had led to the search for saline tolerant and salt resistant crops. The sinking island of Ghoramara is also facing the problem of soil salinity. In this investigation, soil samples were collected from coastal, transition and agricultural region of the island and the physico-chemical parameters of the soil sample were analyzed to understand its quality. The parameters pH and EC were carefully analyzed since they are of utmost importance for elucidating soil salinity. Saline tolerant bacteria were isolated using increasing concentrations of salt in the growth medium. The isolated bacteria were grown on chrome agar followed by gram staining to identify the genus of the isolated bacteria. This was followed by the study of NPK fixation and solubilization analysis, zinc solubilizing efficiency and siderophore production i.e., iron chelating ability of the isolated strains. Based on the results obtained from the above set of experiments five bacteria were selected. These five bacteria would be identified using 16S rRNA. Further experiments for analyzing plant growth promoting hormone production and other plant growth promoting traits will be carried out with these five bacterial strains in the future. Depending on the result a consortium can be developed, specifically designed for the saline infested soil of Ghoramara to improve their crop productivity. Key words: